The Human of Liberty Park
by emmydisney17
Summary: When the park animals take in an orphaned ten year old girl with the power to communicate with animals, her arrival triggers a chain reaction of both the human and the animal world as an old enemy returns for revenge, Surly and Andie becoming parents and the mystery of what has happened to Grayson when he left the park and never returned. Written by both me and Scruff the rat
1. Chapter 1

**The Human of Liberty Park**

 **Chapter One**

It all began on August 30th in the lovely city of Oakton, the day that Surly decided to make a very daring and bold move, the day he decided to propose to his love Andie. They had been through quit a lot together; the first nut job to retrieve nuts for the park from the Nut shop, overcoming Raccoon, losing the nut shop, losing and regaining the park by destroying the rides the Mayor had put up before the animals brought them down, a ton of crazy things before and after have taken place... and through it all Andie and Surly always seemed to work out just fine in the end.

On that day, Surly figured that today was the day he would let his feelings to her become known and hopefully she would feel the same about him. He was shaking with excitement and worry as he paced this way and that in his knothole, trying to figure out what to say and what do to make his proposal special. He wanted it to be very special.

That afternoon, Surly walked up to Andie after finding her under the oak tree which they had agreed to meet and Andie asked "Hello Surly, are you feeling alright?"

"I... I'm just excited... because I want to ask you something very important." Surly said

"And what is that?" Andie asked

Surly gulped and said "Will you... will you ma-marry me?" Surly asked

At first Surly was worried when Andie frowned and he asked "What? Are you going to say no?"

"No... it's just that..." Andie smiled at him as she let out a giggle and said "I was going to ask you the same question first, but you beat me to it!"

Surly smiled as big as he could and he said "You... You mean it?!"

"Yes, I will marry you Surly!" Andie exclaimed with glee.

Surly was so overjoyed he picked up Andie and spun her around before pulling her close for a hug and kissing her lovingly. And Surly had never forgotten it.

Five to Six weeks flew by in an instant from their wedding, their honey moon and especially the news that Andie was now pregnant and due to have their children any time soon. Since then Surly had become an overprotective parent and did his best to remove all sharp and dangerous bits of branches and stones from the park, sanitize all the animals paws and feet, especially their dog friends and their puppies, and even working double time to bring nuts back to Andie due to her appetite becoming monstrous due to being pregnant.

In short, Surly was trying to Baby proof Liberty Park and was spoiling Andie completely rotten. But still it was worth it for the members of the park to be provided with everything they need once Andie had gone into labor and everyone was still happy for the red and purple squirrel nonetheless.

There was, however, one problem that the animals were worried about was that Andie and Surly's babies were bound do be born in the season of Fall and normally park babies were suppose to be born in Spring like everyone else. Naturally that would make their children two seasons early and they were worried that the babies wouldn't be able to last the entire season in the cold, but Andie and Surly convinced them that as long as they worked together, their children would be fine.

One early morning, Andie awoke to the feeling of kicking. One of her children were kicking inside of her and the feeling made her smile. Next to her was Surly, who was waking up as well and yawned as he rubbed his eyes and said "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes... you?" Andie asked

"Yep... are the... the kits..." Surly began as he looked at his mate's middle, which had been growing bigger and bigger every day.

"They're not coming Surly, it won't be for quite a while." Andie said as they both sat up, Surly wrapping his arms around his mate as she placed her paws on her swollen belly "But they are glad to know we're awake... I think they're still dreaming."

Surly smiled before he gently placed his hand on her stomach and said "My babies... I wonder if they will even like me?"

"Oh Surly," Andie said "Of course they'll love you. You're their dad."

"But... what if I fail?" Surly asked "I've been called a disappointment to my own father for so long... he never gave me the love and affection you did."

"Yes, but didn't he die when he was attacked by those alley cats?" Andie asked "Especially when you warned him about those cats."

Surly remembered how horrible his father, and only parent, had been with him, always calling him a disappointment or disgrace whenever the purple squirrel made a mistake and never apologizing for it. Surly lost him when those alley cats attacked him when he tried to retrieve some nuts people dropped and Surly, now all alone, was free from his father's cruelty, allowing him to be himself and to be as wild and daring as he wanted... but that came with a heavy price.

"Dad never taught me how to share or how to be a good person." Surly said sadly "I had to learn that all by myself... and it kinda took a lot longer then I thought."

"Still, you're going to be a wonderful father, regardless of everything." Andie said.

Then they heard someone coming in and looked up in time to see Buddy, who looked happy to see them before he frowned sadly. Surly knew why his pal was like this: Ever since the big news about becoming a father, Surly had spent more time with Andie then he ever did with Buddy, to the point where he dropped everything to focus on Andie and felt bad for leaving Buddy all by his lonesome.

"Hey Buddy," Surly said "You're just the guy I was looking for."

Buddy, who was about to leave, turned back at his friend, looking at him in confusion.

"Yes, you Buddy." Surly said "Come here, After all, you are their uncle. Loveable Uncle Buddy."

Buddy pointed to himself in shock before tears began to form in his eyes. He had been thinking his pal was too busy with Andie to spend time with him. But Surly just dubbed him the children's uncle and a feeling of pride and love overcame him. He quickly rushed over, careful not to trip or ram into the squirrels before he got down and placed his paw on Andie's tummy, where he felt some movement and giggled quietly.

"I think Uncle Buddy can't wait to meet our babies." Andie said with a smile.

"Yeah, and we're going to be one big, happy family." Surly said.

"Well, i'm starting to get hungry and very board from sitting here. Help me up." Andie said.

Surly and Buddy helped Andie get back on her own two feet and once she was up she walked over to the knothole entrance and began to climb down, with Buddy and Surly not too far away. Little did they know that today would be the day that their lives would change in the must unusual and very unique way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Today felt unusually warm for autumn but the denizens of Oakton took it in stride.

The animals in particular.

All over Liberty Park, the tree bound creatures could be seen scurrying to and fro, doing what the humans assumed to be searching for food before winter came. Today, they were right: last week's heist ended up earning the animals a plethora of food (nonperishable, too) to keep them covered until spring came. A little more never hurt, though.

That's why Surly and his old friend Buddy traversed across the branches in search of vendors, hoping to snag a quick snake while the man at the hot dog cart wasn't looking.

Surly put a hand to his chin "Okay, Andie said she's feeling like two turkey franks with mustard and ketchup, maybe a bit of relish on the side. What about you Buddy?"

The dopey but lovable and loyal rat nodded in agreement. Surly chuckled at his friend's infectious enthusiasm "Okay, we'll make it four franks! You got that Doggy bone ready?"

Buddy produced the aforementioned bone that Precious had given him from seemingly nowhere and displayed it proudly. Nodding back, Surly returned his gaze to the vendor and narrowed his eyes, waiting for the unsuspecting human and her large pet dog to approach the vendor so Buddy could throw the bone and set off the distraction.

So focused on their task at hand, they almost failed to notice a tiny ginger skinned girl meekly approaching the same vendor or how she gripped her stomach as through in pain. Once they did they watched her rub her stomach and knock on the cart to get the man's attention to her.

"Excuse me, sir?" she asked "Would it be alright if I got a hot dog. I have some money for it."

"Sure, kid." the man said

As the girl got out some money from the pocket of her worn pants, the man whipped up a quick hot dog and exchanged her money for a dollar and 25 cents. "There you go kid, now you better get along back to your parents. This park's packed today so it's kind of easy to get lost right now."

When the man became preoccupied with his next customer, the man did not notice how the little girl had become gloomy and walked away with a look of depressed guilt, cradling her hot dog. Surly and Buddy noticed that detail, however, and could not help but feel pity for the kid.

"Poor scamp," the squirrel whispered to Buddy "Must be all alone." Man, he could relate to that. A half smile suddenly came to his face when he got an idea on how to cheer up the child and still get some food to Andie. He turned to his pal and said "Hey Buddy, how long do you think you can get the guy to chase that dog?"

* * *

Ten year old Megan, all by her lonesome, sat on a solitary bench far from the loud crowds and took small bites of her hot dog as she could, hoping to converse it. It wasn't much but she hoped it would be enough to help her through the day. She didn't have much money left on her since she ran away from the orphanage and she was too young to look for a job.

She paused when the sound of shouting and barking reached her ears. Some of the shouting sounded like it belonged to the man that gave her the hot dog, but what could he be shouting at a dog for?

Shrugging her shoulders, Megan went back to earing her hot dog. Once she was finished, though, she jolted at the sound of a thump beside her. Looking to her left, she was surprised to discover two perfectly good hot dogs right there, just asking to be eaten. Megan looked all around herself, hoping this wasn't some kind of trick. When nobody revealed themselves, she hummed in wonder and finally threw caution to the wind, taking the hot dogs and chowing down on them.

Unbeknownst to her, a squirrel and rat, carrying hot dogs of their own, quietly scampered back into the bushes after making sure she was making use of her food, feeling good about the good deed they had done for the child.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Not long after the pair were carrying the food back to their home, they found Andie with the little white mouse known as Mr. Feng, who was teaching Tai Chi to his army of mice and Andie was with them, slowly mimicking Mr. Feng as he said "Calmness is the key to seeing the answer to all challenges. When your mind becomes filled with negative and stressful thoughts, the road ahead becomes difficult to see, but once you allow it to settle and release your thoughts, the answer to it all becomes clear as the water and the sky."

Andie was doing her best to stand on one foot like the other mice were doing but then she started to wobble and was about to fall over when Surly caught her and said "Okay, that's enough for today honey."

"Surly, I... I wish my parents could see me now." Andie said as tears began to form in her eyes "They would've loved to have..." as she began to sniffle, Surly gently wiped the tears falling from his love's eyes and hugged her to comfort her.

Surly put his hands on Andie's middle and rubbed it affectionately "Hey there little fellas, daddy just got mommy some food to eat and soon you'll... wait, can babies eat before they're born?"

"I have no idea." Andie said with a shrug of her shoulders "But I am still starving."

"Then here are your hot dogs," Surly said as he presented her with the hot dogs she wanted "And you should've seen the look on that man's face when-"

Zip! Andie rushed past him and began to devour the hot dogs like she hadn't eaten anything in months and Surly was stunned for a moment before he and Buddy got to work eating their hot dogs.

* * *

Meanwhile Megan was looking for the person who had given her the hot dogs and was looking around when she came upon the bruisers, three groundhog siblings named Johnny, Jimmy and Jamie. Right now the brothers were busy with trying to out do each other in wrestling while Jamie watched on as the referee.

"I'm gonna get you this time Jimmy!" said Johnny

"Not a chance, Johnny!" said Jimmy

"Go brothers, let's see who wins this wrestling game this time." Jamie said.

However, much to Jamie's confusion, the brothers looked up and froze stiff in their tracks. Jamie was about to ask what was wrong when she noticed that a shadow was looming over them and turned to see Megan, who smiled at them a little shyly. The trio were scared stiff for a moment as Jamie whispered to her brothers "If she moves, get ready to run!"

"I can't, I can't move!" Jimmy replied in fear.

Just then a large soccer ball came out of no where and was about to strike Jamie, who ducked down quickly, before Megan caught it and held it up over the groundhog girl, making her brothers gap in awe.

"She saved our sister!" Johnny gasped

"Guess this one's a friendly human." Johnny said.

Megan tossed the ball away where some human children reclaimed it and ran off to play somewhere else, not bothering to notice Megan. Megan sadly sat under the tree and tears began to form in her eyes. The Bruisers looked at each other and wondered what to do. Normally humans hadn't been a big deal since the animal control officers who almost got away with taking them away but this human didn't harm them, she saved Jamie and she didn't look like she'd hurt anyone.

Then Jimmy said "Hey! I got this crazy idea! You know how humans keep animals like pets? Well, why don't we keep this human for a pet of our own!"

"What!?" Jamie asked in shock

"Yeah!," Johnny said "I've always wanted a pet human! I wonder if I could teach her to do tricks and stuff?"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Jamie asked in anger "You can't keep a human for a pet! That's just plain crazy!"

"Says who? I don't see any rule about not adopting a human for a pet." Jimmy said "Then Precious and Frankie won't be the only pets the whole park has."

"But what about Surly and Andie? What will they think?" Jamie asked

"We'll announce it to everyone." Jimmy said "We'll give her food, shelter, a nice place to sleep, everything a pet ever needs! And I know just where to keep her; the mill!"

"Oh brother, how did I get stuck with you morons for siblings?" Jamie asked

"Luck?" Johnny suggested "But is say we go forth with our pet human idea."

While the trio were talking they didn't realize that, unlike the previous humans they had encountered, Megan could communicate with animals so she could understand what the Bruisers were saying just perfectly. She could've told them about this but she was very shy with people (or in this case animals) she just met and hardly knew. So she decided to wing it and wait for the right moment to reveal her secret to them.

Besides, it would be nice to have someone around who didn't bully you for the fun of it all the time.

Jamie sighed as she said "Alright, I'll gather everyone and tell them to meet you guys at the mill with our new 'pet' but don't say I didn't warn you when everyone laughs at you!"

"Go ahead," Johnny said with a wave of his paw "Laugh now but just you wait, this is going to be the greatest thing that's ever happened to us!"

'He doesn't know the half of it.' Megan thought to herself 'Now all I have to do is wait for the animals and hopefully they will like me enough to keep me. I can't stand the idea of going back to the orphanage again!'

But still one thing bothered her; will they really like her?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Easy there, babe."

Andie groaned as she held her stomach and held back a burp, her throat feeling a bit acidic after the puke she forced down a few seconds ago. That's what she got for chowing down so fast. Seriously, these kids were going to be the death of her, weren't they? At least Surly, who'd warned her beforehand, had the decency not to say 'I told you so'. Her pride was taking enough hits from this feeling she was experiencing as of now.

"You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now," Andie grumbled despite her husband's comforting pats "But nope, once again my maternal hormones prove to be my undoing."

"Hey," Surly gently chided as he wrapped his arm around her "It won't be for much longer. You've held out for this long; just gotta hang in there a little while longer."

Andie managed a smile "You're right. It's all gonna be worthwhile in the end. Of course, that still doesn't mean I have to enjoy this."

"The puking or my coddling?" Surly asked

"The first one," Andie said "The second goes without saying."

Surly snorted amusedly and then gently hugged his wife, careful not to jostle her. Andie gladly returned the embrace. The tender moment got cut short when a slight tap-tap on the wooden walls brought the couple's attention to Buddy, who stood in the light of the entrance, his face unusually frazzled.

"Buddy?" In concern, Surly got up and hurried over to his longtime friend "Bro, what's up? You look like you've seen Raccoon's ghost or something."

Fervently shaking his head, Buddy stuck all his fingers out, parading them to indicate a crowd, and then pointed a frantic finger at the old oak tree.

Andie furrowed her brows in wonder "Sounds like something's up at the center of the park," She took note of the dimming afternoon sky and added "It's going to be evening soon. Grunting, she got up with some effort, politely declining her husband's offered paw. "We better hurry up and see what's going on before it gets dark."

Two minutes later, the trio reached the tree only to discover a sizable amount of animals already there. Fortunately, the park was near to closing at this time and humans tended to be gone by this time so the large crowd was okay. What caught Andie's attention through was the sight of the three groundhog siblings standing before the entire crowd of interested animals, Jimmy checked glances behind the tree every now and then for some reason.

"Okay, okay, everybody listen up," Johnny called to gather everyone's attention, his usually cheerful voice serious for once in his life "This afternoon, we stumbled across something both adorable yet heart wrenching: an abandoned child!"

Almost immediately, voices of worry and curiosity sprang up. A child? left behind here? Not exactly unheard of but not at all common either. Especially since the next time this situation came up was also the first time Surly-

"And this from the bottom of our awesome hearts," Johnny continued in a false-syrupy tone, as through he were thanking himself and his siblings for finding the cure to something "We took the path most noble and adopted them!"

Andie face palmed, Surly looked ready to collapse into a fit of laughter and Buddy cocked his head in confusion.

No wonder the rat had looked worried before. Seriously, those three with a baby? Okay, maybe Jamie on account of her being so much more responsible then her brothers, but Jimmy and Johnny raising a kid? C'mon! And Surly was concerned HE himself would suck as a father. Not anymore thanks to these two knuckleheads.

Sudden grunts sounded from the tree behind which Jamie, who'd been absent from the 'state' seemed to be gently coaxing with her hands someone from out of hiding. Whoever the child was, they must have been huge to require Jamie to look up at them. Did she and her brothers run into a baby badger?

The answer became clear once the mystery child, in defeat, shyly emerged via Jamie's guidance.

Everyone gasped. Megan decided that this was the time to reveal her big secret to the animals so she decided to simply start with a greeting, but then another voice spooked her back into hiding.

"Hey everybody! What's up?" said the voice.

The animals turned to see Precious, their pug friend, bounding over with her family, made up of her husband Frankie and their three adorable little puppies. Once the dogs arrived Frankie spoke up next, saying "What's with the crowd? Is there a party or what?"

"You just scared our new human pet!" Jimmy said in annoyance.

"PET?!" The dogs asked before the animals burst out laughing. Megan felt like the animals were making fun of her, laughing at her, laughing at her humiliation, fear and misery. She couldn't take it anymore so she stepped out and snapped "I AM NOT A PET!"

The animals stopped laughing and looked at her with shocked looks on their faces, frozen with shock and surprise at what they just heard. Jamie managed to speak up as she stammered "D-Did she just..."

"Understood what you said?" Megan asked, angry at the animals for calling her a pet "Yes, I can, I can talk to animals and understand what you are saying. And I don't like being called a pet so-"

"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!" The animals screamed and ran for their lives as if they had just seen and been scared off by a ghost. Megan watched the large group retreat before looking down to realize five animals were still looking at her, glued to the ground they were standing on in shock.

Surly, who had been rolling on the ground laughing his head off, was now staring at the girl in shock, not even bothering to stand back up, Andie had falling down and landed on her read end, Precious fell over to her side in shock, Mr. Feng stood on his tail with his mouth hanging open and Buddy stood there with his mouth hanging open as well.

Tears formed in Megan's eyes as she got down to the ground and began to cry for all it was worth, saying "F-Fine, see if I care... I don't care... not one bit."

However the more the five looked at her, the more they realized she did care about how the others thought of her and their shock melted to pure guilt. Surly was the first to react as he walked over to the girl and gently nudged her arm, getting her attention as Megan looked at him with tear filled eyes.

"Um...how about we start over, okay kid?" Surly asked "This time, we do it right."

Megan smiled at him. Suddenly she didn't feel so sad and lonely anymore. For the first time in forever, she finally found something truly special and worthwhile to have around... a friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

When darkness began to fall, Surly convinced Megan to go to the old mill where they guided her up to the top of the old building. Megan was worried it would collapse but even thought it was old, it was still functional and sturdy for her to climb and walk around on. Buddy gathered the fireflies into a jar to function as a lantern for the group to see clearly in the dark. Megan looked around before she decided to sit down on the wooden floor.

"Now, tell us everything Kiddo." Surly said "I mean, I don't mean to get too personal but... how can you talk to animals when other humans can't?"

Megan took a deep breath and said "I don't know, I've just always been able to talk to animals. Since the day I was born. And a few days after I was born my family was killed in an accident. I was sent to live in an orphanage, which wasn't really a bad place. However things changed last week when we got a newcomer named Kylie. She's twelve years old and spent that time in her life causing terror and mayhem to everyone and what's worse is that her mother lets her get away with it. She's the temporary replacement the city hired to replace the old owner of the orphanage when he broke every bone in his body trying to win a sports trophy for us all."

"When will he come back and force that monster of a woman out?" Mr. Feng asked with curiosity.

"Not till... let's see... three to four months from now." Megan said "But it wasn't just the bullying that drove me away."

"Then what is it?" Precious asked curiously.

"For as long as I can remember, nobody wanted to adopt me. I've tried several times but I would always be rejected, replaced or someone else would become their favorite instead of me. I grew sick and tired of always been rejected and abandoned by potential families, bringing my hopes up then ending up getting crushed by them in the end. At my last failed adoption, Kylie told me that if no family would come for me, I would have to leave to come to them instead...so that's what I did."

"You ran away just to find a family all by yourself?" Andie asked "You poor thing."

"And so far I hadn't found any luck, just people who would chase me away, calling me an urchin or a hobo or whatever. Not even the animals like me, they just run away the moment they realize I can understand them... like they were afraid of me or something."

She was about to burst into tears again when Surly climbed up her shoulder and gently stroked her head as he said "Yeah but, we didn't run away and we're not going to cast you aside. We like you."

"Y-You mean it?" Megan asked "I can stay?"

"Of course," Andie said "I've never had a human friend before, but I would be honored if you became our friend. Our babies would love it."

"Babies?" Megan asked

"Yeah, my wife Andie, she's going to have babies soon," Surly said "And like any other father, I'm doing my best to keep our kids safe and sound from all harm."

"Must be nice to have a mommy and daddy like you..." Megan said

Andie looked at Megan and suddenly she smiled as she said "You know... if you like, maybe you could be our baby too."

"Whoa whoa Andie, let's not get carried away here!" Surly said nervously "I mean, we've never taken care of a human before, much less a kid and so... she's bigger then us and she doesn't know the first thing about park life."

"Yes, but she's also an orphan who needs our help." Andie said "And I can't stand to see anyone in need suffer. Besides, maybe this could be just what you need Surly, think of her like a practice baby so that when our own babies are born, you'll know just what to do to take care of them."

"But Andie," Surly said, shaking his head "She's a kid, not a baby. And I don't know the first thing about teaching a human to live off the land like an animal."

"I know that, but even without help you managed to become a master survivor all by yourself. Maybe you can become her teacher or something. Besides, do you really have the heart to cast away a child?"

Surly looked at Andie and then at Megan who looked at him with a worried look on her face. Surly felt a pang of guilt and worry in his chest before he sighed and said "No, I can't."

"I can stay?" Megan asked

"Yep, you're staying kiddo." Surly said with a grin.

"And don't worry, I will assist you Surly." Mr. Feng said "I shall take her under my wing and teach her about Kung Fu so she shall be able to defend herself and others you care about so you shall never feel helpless again."

"And i'll teach you some doggy tricks I know, like how to play dead and how to track stuff with your nose." Precious said.

"Great, now we only have one problem to face." Surly said "How are we going to break this to the others?"

"Don't worry Surly," Andie said "I'm sure we'll be able to convince them that Megan is a nice human. We can set her next up here in the mill, we'll get pillows and..." Suddenly she turned green and said "Oh no... i'm going to puke again!"

The others scrambled to help Andie as they looked around for something before Surly found an abandoned cup nearby and managed to give it to Andie, just in time before she tossed her cookies in front of everyone. When she was done she handed the cup back to Surly and said "Uh... thanks Surly, I needed that."

"I'll just... get rid of this mess and gather up the others while I'm out." Surly said as he held out the cup in disgust before leaving and boy would he have a heck of a time trying to explain all this to the others about Megan and her special gift.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Surly was at a loss, a pure absolute loss.

Don't get him wrong, he was more then happy to help Megan out and openly welcome the chance for a human friend, but how the heck were they suppose to convince the other animals of that? Indeed, all of the park animals, save for Surly himself, Andie, Buddy, Mr. Feng and Precious were huddled at the opposite end of the mill, frozen and huddled in fear while Megan stood silent at the other end, not daring to look their way, knowing she'd only see their fear and mistrust.

Honestly, Surly felt about ready to slap the lot of them for acting like that. Yeah, Megan was larger than them, but that didn't mean she was gonna eat them or something! On the other hand, Megan didn't seem to be doing too hot either, the young girl brushing away tears every now and then. Surly put a hand to his head, trying to think up a way to break the ice here.

That's when Andie suddenly spoke up, her voice peppy "So, Megan," she turned to the girl with a smile on her face "Tell us about yourself."

Megan turned to Andie in surprise, as though shocked the squirrel would ask that question, but then nodded "Um..." she looked down to the ground out of shyness as she twiddled her fingers "I like to do arts and crafts, mostly painting."

Andie cocked her head, interested "Really? What are some things you've painted?"

Megan shifted her eyes in thought "Mostly landscape stuff; deserts, oceans, forests. I always like how peaceful a place feels without people in the background. Most of the kids at the orphanage always called it boring, though."

At the last sentence, Surly scoffed "Oh yeah, cuz they 'obviously' know what real art looks like." He set his hands akimbo "My pal Buddy and I have sneaks through a few art museums in our time, kid, and I gotta tell ya, the kind of stuff you're talking about? Folks eat that stuff up."

Megan blinked at the male rodents in wonder, not believing her ears "Really?"

Precious suddenly began jumping up and down "Oh! Oh! It's true! Back when I had a master, his girlfriend would sometimes have this book on somebody called..." she stopped for a moment as her face drew a blank, trying hard to remember. She cocked her head "Georgie Coffee... or something?"

Mr. Feng tapped his friend on the shoulder and said "Perhaps you mean Georgia O' Keaffe, correct?"

Precious perked her head in realization "Oh, that's her! That's her!"

The same followed suit with Megan, who seemed to brighten at the mention of the artist's name "I know about her. She always made really good artwork, especially when it came to flowers."

"Oh, I take it you must really enjoy flowers too then." Andie commented, secretly hoping this topic would help Megan come out of her shell more.

The dark skinned girl nodded. "Mm-hmm, although I don't believe in picking them. That just kills them."

Surly huffed in approval "Sounds like we got a real nature lover on our hands." he tried not to smirk at how a good number of other park animals started to relax and regard Megan with curiosity instead of fear after hearing that. Megan, on the other hand, scuffled her feet.

"Is... that a bad thing?"

Suddenly realizing his mistake, Surly shook his head vehemently "Wha-No! Nooo! You kidding? That's like the best thing we could expect out of a human! Ain't that right Buddy?" The rat nodded eagerly in response.

Megan undid her scuffling and looked down at the squirrel with a blush. She brushed back a loose strand of hair to hide a growing smile.

"O-Oh! Okay then," she looked back to the other animals with a worried frown. Then she sat down, crisscross applesauce and said "I'm also the same way with animals. Whenever a mouse wandered into the orphanage, I'd catch them before anyone else could and sneak them out the back door. Everyone is always so cruel to them when they shouldn't be."

Surly, Andie and Buddy all shared a knowing smile. Oh yeah, they definitely got a keeper here.

"Well then, I think we should get to work making sure our newest family member is taken care of." Andie said "We're going to have to gather blankets, pillows and a bunch of other things now that we have Megan in our care."

"You don't have to spoil me." Megan said

"We're not spoiling you, we're helping you learn how to survive in the park." Surly said "It's a big difference, but don't worry, pretty soon you'll be less human and more park animal by the time we're done."

Megan smiled before she turned to Andie and said "Can I feel your babies?"

Andie nodded "As much as you want darling."

Megan scooped up Andie and held her close, gently pressing her fingers on top of Andie's middle, feeling the babies movement as they kicked a little, making Andie rub her middle very affectionately "I think they like you already."

"And I love them back." Megan said, pulling Andie close to her face for a nuzzling snuggle.

"Awwww!" the group cooed in heartwarming delight at the tender scene before them.

Megan looked at the animals and smiled, thinking to herself 'I think I'm gonna like it here."

* * *

Later on once the animals had gathered everything they needed to take proper care of their new human friend, everyone settled in for the night in the mill. Surly, Andie and Buddy decided to sleep next to Megan as she began to fidget and move a little in her sleep.

"Sure is cute when kids are asleep isn't it?" Surly asked Andie.

"Yes, it is." Andie said "Our family is growing by the day..." She looked down at her round stomach and rubbed it "I can't wait for our babies to arrive... but I don't want to force them to come early either."

"Let's just take it easy, right now, we have a different baby to take care of." Surly said, helping his mate settle down for the night.

"Megan... our baby... I like the sound of that." Andie said.

"Me too." Surly said as he curled up next to his mate. He decided to talk to his children one last time before saying good night and gently placed his paw on Andie's tummy, stroking it as he said "Good night kids... I love you all... sweet dreams."

He then felt a soft kick coming from inside his love's belly and he smiled, kissing that spot tenderly before he pulled Andie close and fell asleep with her in his arms. Buddy smiled at the pair before he blew a kiss to Megan and settled in for the night, happy to have a special new friend to play with.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The animals woke up the next morning and got to work finding food for the next meal, well, almost everyone. Surly, Andie and Buddy were still fast asleep, they were so tired after helping gather the pillows and blankets Megan needed that they decided to sleep in this morning. Megan woke up and watched the trio sleep, thinking that this was the cutest thing she had ever seen before her stomach began to growl in a very demanding way.

Not wanting to wake up the trio, Megan slowly and softly snuck around them before she accidently stepped on a creaking board, waking up Buddy as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Megan felt sorry she woke him up and whispered "Sorry, I'm just hungry."

Buddy walked over to her and climbed up her body before he stood on her shoulder and pointed outside.

"Are you going to help me look for food?" Megan asked.

Buddy nodded. Like the squirrels, he adored his adopted human niece and was willing to do anything to make her happy. Megan smiled before she climbed down and left the mill. With Buddy on her shoulder, Megan looked around her beautiful new home and smiled "I hope I'll be able to become a good park animal, like you Uncle Buddy."

She gently scooped up Buddy into her hands, holding him before she began tickling him, making him squeak and giggle happily. Buddy decided to get even and quickly climbed out of her hands, dove into her shirt and began to move around. Megan squeaked before she began to laugh, giggling as she tried to catch the little moving bulge under her clothes that was her Uncle Buddy, tickling her from all over as he ran across her little body.

"Please stop! It tickles!" she cried before she lost her balance and fell over.

When the tickling movements stopped, Megan gasped in horror as she cried "Uncle Buddy? Buddy, where are you!?"

She felt something climb up and stood on her head before she looked up and saw Buddy sitting on top of her head, smiling down at her. Megan sighed as she pulled Buddy in for a gentle hug and said "For a moment, I was worried that I sat on my uncle."

Buddy hugged her back as he sighed in content, happy to be given such loving affection before he heard the sound of Megan's growling stomach made them realize that there was still the matter of eating breakfast... there was just one problem; where were they going to find enough food to feed Megan?

Buddy decided to talk to Mr. Feng about the situation. After all, he was a city mouse so he should be able to point out where in the whole city humans can get access to food. Buddy took Megan to Mr. Feng, who was wrapping up another Tai Chi lesion with his multiple white mouse friends before Megan said "Mr. Feng, I don't suppose you would be able to find something for me to eat around here, would you?"

"There are no food carts out this early," Mr. Feng said "The only way to get food to feed you would be to leave the park and go to a restaurant."

"Will you take me?" Megan said, rubbing her belly as she looked at the white mouse before her "Pretty please?"

"Well, I don't know..." Mr. Feng said "It has been quite a while since we were in the city... and it would be suspicious if anyone saw us or you with us... maybe it would be safer if you waited for the next food cart to come around."

"Please?" Megan asked again, her stomach roaring a bit louder then it was before.

Mr. Feng looked at his army and then at Megan, her large puppy dog eyes staring right back at him as he felt his resolve melt and he sighed "Alright, alright. We'll leave as soon as possible to find food for you."

"Yay!" Megan exclaimed as she scooped up Mr. Feng and snuggled him close to her cheek as she said "Thank you! Thank You! Thank you!"

But in all the excitement of exploring the city with the kung fu mouse army to find food, Megan had forgotten one very important detail she was suppose to do beforehand; she forgot to tell Andie and Surly where she was going.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, Surly slowly began to wake up along with Andie as he helped her get back on her feet. They were about to say good morning when they noticed that Megan's 'nest' was empty. Immediately, Andie began to panic "My baby! My baby! Where's my baby!?"

"Calm down Andie, don't get all worked up, or you might jostle the other babies." Surly said, wrapping his arms around his mate to calm her down "I'll go out and find her, while you stay here and take care of yourself."

"No, Surly," Andie said "That's my baby out there and I refuse to stay behind and let her get hurt on her first day in the park, no matter how pregnant I am!"

"Okay, but at least let me help you over and under a few things while we look." Surly said.

"Deal," Andie said, looking down at her stomach and rubbed it "Don't worry my dears, we'll find your big sister."

Suddenly, Surly got an idea "I got it! I'll get Precious and she can use her sniffer to track her down. If anyone can track one special human in a crowd of millions it's Precious."

"Great idea Surly, let's go!" Andie said

And soon they were off. It didn't take much effort to find her as they heard her and her family snoring under a shady tree before Surly grabbed her collar and shook the pug awake.

"Wake up Precious! Wake up!" Surly said "We need you!"

"Ugh, are we having bacon for breakfast?" Precious asked

"Forget about food, Megan's gone missing!" Andie said "We need your help!"

Precious snapped awake, standing on her four feet as she said "Megan?! Don't worry, I'm on it!"

Immediately, Precious went to work sniffing out the scent before she allowed Surly and Andie to climb up on top of her and took off to find the girl in the city, fearing something terrible had happened to her but in actuality she was having the time of her life.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Well, getting to the restaurant wasn't so hard.

Surprisingly, no one batted an eye at a little girl traveling all by herself, though that may have had to do with school being off today. In any case, Megan was grateful no complications came up until she reached the eatery. The fact that Buddy, Mr. Feng and the other mice were traversing the roofs alongside Megan's path helped as well since no one would be screaming bloody murder at the sight of rodents.

Peeking in through the window, Megan felt her mouth start to water at the scrumptious food inside but then she hastily wiped away the drool and stepped back from the window before she drew attention to herself. Even before she checked her pockets, Megan knew she wouldn't have enough money to cover a single item on the menu in there. Heck, just a children's meal would be enough to wipe her finances out!

Yet, she huffed in determination, choosing to believe in her Uncle Buddy and his friends. They were going to get her food, she just knew they would! Megan looked to and fro and then up, hoping to catch the sign Mr. Feng said once his mice would pass to her.

Suddenly she noticed a leaf flutter to the ground right before her feet. The signal.

With a smile, Megan hurried down the nearest aisle, making sure no other people followed her in. There she saw one of the mice peek their tiny head from behind a massive dumpster and wave to her, signaling the girl to hurry over. Megan complied and soon found herself behind the dumpster and wave to her, signaling the girl to hurry over. Megan complied and soon found herself behind the dumpster with Mr. Feng and a few of his followers.

Mr. Feng gave Megan a grin of approval "Good, we are all in position."

Megan tilted her head "Does that mean Uncle Buddy and the others are already inside?"

The elder mouse nodded his head "Yes. You and I and these fellows will be standing as guards while the others sneak food out of this facility." his face then grew serious and waved a finger "If something goes wrong thought, be ready to run. Don't worry about the rest of us if that happens; we're used to these sort of things."

That assurance didn't help Megan feel much better. As much as she knew she'd be a liability if she were to try protecting everyone from the other humans, it didn't feel fair to stand around and wait while her newfound uncle and his friends risked their lives just because her stomach loved being greedy.

Those were her thoughts at least. Megan didn't exactly see herself as someone worth going through all this trouble for, even after all the kindness the park animals had shown in basically adopting her.

A familiar weight plopping onto her head and then onto a nearby trashcan drew Megan out of her self-deprecating, worrisome thoughts and towards Buddy, who stood before his human niece smiling as though he had just conquered the entire known universe in the last ten minutes-and as far as the rat was concerned, he had.

Putting his fingers in his mouth, he whistled a low enough sound so as to not be heard by eavesdroppers but loud enough for anyone in the immediate vicinity to hear him clearly. On cue, the other mice returned with doggy bags and Styrofoam containers abound with food, delicious smells wafting from them and making Megan hop up and down in excitement.

No more worries for this girl!

* * *

If only the same could be said for Andie and Surly.

The squirrel couple had set out with Precious, Frankie staying behind to look after their pups. The trio stuck to the shadows, Precious growling at any suspicious looking animals that dared stray too close. As risky as the alleys could be, the three animals agreed that going out in the open would be too risky.

Unfortunately, as strong as Precious's nose could be and despite all her efforts to focus on the search and not the delicious smells of food that taunted her at every turn, the group had not seen hide nor hair of Megan anywhere, let along any indication that she'd been through someplace.

At this point, Andie was ready to lose her mind, not that Surly would let her of course. As freaked out as he was himself, panic would do them no good here.

Luckily for the couple, Precious finally perked at a familiar smell.

"Oh OOHHHH! I got her! I think I got her!" she cried with excitement

"Are you sure it's not buttery popcorn again?" Surly asked

"I mean it, hang on!" Precious said as she walked in the direction of the scent and the squirrels hung on to her collar as the pug trotted over to an alley and the three saw Megan dining on the stolen food with Buddy, Mr. Feng and his army. Megan smiled when she looked up, slurping up some noodles before she said "Hi Mom and Dad, care to join us?"

"My baby!" Andie cried as she hopped off the dog and didn't stop until she had climbed up to Megan's shoulders, where she began to nuzzle her human daughter's face happily "Oh, my baby! I was so worried!"

"I was gonna come back." Megan said

"You didn't tell us where you were going, you had the both of us worried sick!" Surly snapped angrily "Seriously, do we have to put a leash on you just so you don't go wandering off or what?!"

Megan began to tear up as she began to sniffle. Mr. Feng shot Surly a nasty look as he said "Now you've done it, you made her cry!"

Megan sniffled as tears began to form in her eyes and said "I... I didn't mean to make you worry... it's just that... back at the orphanage everyone has no parents to turn to for anything, it was like every man for themselves or something. I... I've been so used to being on my own for so long... I don't even know what it's like to be part of a family who actually wanted you around."

Surly frowned, feeling guilty for snapping at her as the others looked on, Megan wiping a few tears from her eyes with her arms as she said "Are... Are you going to take me back?"

"Take you back?" Andie asked in shock "No! Never! You're still part of our family. Mistake or no, you are still my baby girl and I am your mommy, and that will never change no matter what."

Surly climbed up to Megan's shoulder and stood on the other side as he patted her head and said "I'm sorry kiddo... I didn't mean to snap, I was just worried something bad happened to you, like any regular father is suppose to do... how about we start over and take it from there?"

"Okay." Megan said, smiling as she started to feel better.

"Good." Surly said "Now let's get out of here before something else happens."

So they packed up the food and headed pack to Liberty Park, unaware that a pair of eyes was watching them, filled with anger and a lust for revenge.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The group returned to the park, carrying food that the other animals quickly noticed and they began to scarf down the food as well and Andie, who was having cravings again, began to join the feeding frenzy along with the others. Megan smiled as she watched her animal family eat and picked up her squirrel father and her rat uncle, snuggling them close as she said "I love my family."

"Yeah, we'll I hope you remember to tell us where your going first, so that nobody else has heart attacks like that again." Surly said

"I promise I won't ever do that again." Megan said.

"Alright, now what shall we do next?" Surly said as he climbed up on top of Megan's head "Lunch won't be for a while and I don't know much about human care and stuff."

"Well, how about we play a game?" Megan asked

"Nah, we should be focusing more about what human child need for the moment, other then games." Surly said

Suddenly a gust of cold wind blew across their faces and Megan began to shiver as she hugged herself and said "It's getting freezing cold out here."

"I know, it feels like the autumn winds have finally arrive." Surly said "But luckily we have our fur so we won't be too cold."

"But I don't have fur on my body, what am I going to do?" Megan asked as she shivered a little in worry

"Yeah... that is a problem." Surly said "Well we could... no, that would be ridicules."

"What is it Daddy?" Megan asked

"Well, we could create a... how do I put this? A second skin for you to wear. Like a suit that gives you fur, the feeling of being a real park animal but... that would just be silly. Where would we get enough material for something like that?"

"I know! I know where!" Frankie said, bounding over and nearly scaring the trio.

Surly managed to save himself from falling off his human daughter's head as he said "Frankie, what are you talking about?"

"Back when I belonged to the mayor, I saw him and his daughters buy some fur or stuff that looked like animal fur people use for wearing from some fancy store, but I bet those fur skin coats and stuff are still back in their old house right now."

"Breaking into that place again?" Surly asked "Won't there be humans?"

"Well, at least Heather and the Mayor won't be there to try and clobber you like last time." Frankie said

"Last time?" Megan asked

"It's a long story sweetie, but I'll tell you later." Surly said "Let's just get those furs and make that suit."

* * *

By the time lunch time had come and gone Surly, Buddy and Frankie had returned with the fur coats and since they had found so many, Frankie thought it would be handy to use Heather's old pink wagon to carry them around in. After all, Heather was relocated somewhere else when her father was arrested so he was sure that she wouldn't need her wagon anymore... or any of her toys for that matter.

Which came as a surprise when Megan discovered the unused toys Frankie had recovered from Heather's old room with the wagon and the dog proudly declared that they were her toys now. Megan felt touched and as the animals worked together to make Megan her animal furred costume Megan began playing with her new toys as Frankie told them about Heather and how nasty she was.

"You used to belong to a nasty family, how horrible." Megan said

"And Heather was the worst." Frankie said "All se ever did was scream, yell, pout, and shoot animals with her slingshot. Believe me, you don't ever want to be around a brat for as long as I have. It almost made me hate all kinds of children completely."

"Like us?"

Frankie turned to see his darling little pups, all whimpering and staring at him with big wide eyes as through he had hurt their feelings.

Frankie shook his head "No no, not like you kids, your darling angels and I love you all. It was kids like Heather I couldn't stand, so don't ever start acting selfish or mean to others... trust me, it never goes well for those who do."

"We won't Dad!" the pups said as they snuggled with their father.

Megan smiled before she grabbed the pink mermaid themed slingshot from the wagon and said "I won't ever use this to hurt any kind of animal ever."

"Megan, your fur suit is ready!" Surly called out from the mill.

All the animals waited in the mill for Megan while Andie began to feel uneasy as she clutched her stomach in severe pain. Megan quickly emerged, dressed in an outfit that looked like she was wearing footie pajamas made out of fur with a hoodie to match.

"Wow kid, you look great." Surly said.

"Thanks... uh, what's wrong with mommy?" Megan asked

Andie grunted as she clutched her stomach in pain again before she fell down and Surly caught her quickly as he exclaimed "Andie?! What's wrong?!"

"I... I... I think I'm about to have our babies, right now!" Andie exclaimed in sheer panic.

Upon hearing the news, all of the park animals began to scream and panic and run around as if the end of the world had arrived. Megan had no idea what to do but she knew she had to help her mother, so she gently picked up Andie, cradling her in her hands and shouted "Is anyone here a doctor or something?"

"We don't have doctors here!" Surly exclaimed "None of us know what to do!"

"Well, I know someone who does, who lives not to far away if I remember right." Megan said "I know a shortcut, if we hurry we can reach in time."

Surly quickly climbed up the girl's body and curled up next to Andie, who was trying to breath through the pain of child labor and held her close as he said "Then let's go! Hurry everyone, we don't have much time to lose!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Dr. Johnson, a balding African-American man in his mid 40s, took his job as a vet with the upmost dedication. Any animal brought in was a patient that deserved the highest quality of care possible, no matter what their species.

That's why when a familiar little girl came rushing into his practice, cradling a balled up, trembling red squirrel, face tight with tension and concern as she begged to see someone, the good doctor showed no hesitation in taking the child and her tiny friend in.

"I take from the rather large bulge in her lower body that your friend's expecting," the vet noted with a careworn smile.

Megan blushed at Andie being called a 'friend'. She hadn't considered yet how strange it would have sounded to someone else that she refers to someone she barely knew as 'mommy', let alone some random park animal. pushing that thought to the side, she gingerly handed Andie to Dr. Johnson, who gently lay the convulsing rodent atop a covered examination table.

"Now then," the man started as he turned to the child with a soft yet serious face "Since I can see how much you care for... um... what is her name?"

"Andie." Megan said

"Andie," Dr. Johnson said as he nodded "She's going to need you to stick by her side no matter what. Having you here should help her cope with the progress."

Megan nodded back.

* * *

Meanwhile, Surly and the other animals sat outside the building housing the veterinarian's office, wracked with worry over Andie. Particularly Surly, who had been pacing back and forth for the last half hour despite Buddy and Precious' best attempts to calm him down.

"It's no use guys," Surly said "Nothing is going to make me feel better, and I can't go in there to be with Andie so I have no idea how she's doing!"

"I'm sure she'll be fine, like I did." Precious said

"Yeah, and Frankie was practically chewing his own limbs off while he waited." Mole said

"I only chewed one leg, and it wasn't that bad." Frankie said, blushing with embarrassment.

"Buddy, give me something to chew on." Surly said.

Buddy handed over an almond he had found and Surly shoved it in his mouth, chewing it as much as he could but before he could finish it, Megan opened the window and shouted "It's a girl!"

Surly spat out the nut, coughing and sputtering as the others cheered "A girl!"

Megan looked back and said "And a boy!"

"One of each, nice!" Johnny cheered as Surly recovered from his scare.

"And finally, another girl!" Megan declared proudly

Three baby squirrel kits, Andie and Surly would have their hands full for sure! The animals congratulated Surly as he felt faint, swaying this way and that before Buddy grabbed him before he could fall over and helped him back on his feet just in time for Megan to come out and pick the squirrel up.

"Come on Daddy, it's time to meet the babies." She said

Surly didn't know what to think as he held his head and tried to keep himself from fainting again the moment he saw Andie on the examination table, on top a little pillow with her tail covering something she was hiding from view. When Surly came to her side, She removed her tail and revealed three beautiful, tiny and lively newborn baby squirrels. One had purple fur like Surly, the other had Andie's red coat and the third had a muddy mixture between the two.

Surly felt like he was the happiest guy alive as he got down on his knees and picked up the purple furred baby, snuggling it as the baby cooed within his hold.

"Hey there little fella... it's daddy, I've been waiting a long time to finally meet you... and you're even more beautiful then I could ever imagine." Surly said

"That one's our first born daughter your holding," Andie said "Our second is our son, who has my red coat and the other one is our other daughter... aren't they adorable?"

"Yeah, very adorable." Surly said sweetly as he held his baby girl close in his arms.

"How cute, the doctor took a break so it's just you guys and me." Megan said "Now, what are we going to name them?"

Andie and Surly looked at each other before Andie groaned "Oh no! We completely forgot about the names! We were so busy with everything else, we completely forgot about naming our kids!"

"Oh great, if the others knew about this, they'd laugh their head off at us for sure." Surly sighed in frustration "How could we have forgotten to name them!?"

"Whoa whoa, calm down. Maybe I can help you guys with the names." Megan said

Andie and Surly looked at each other and smiled before Andie said "Alright honey, you can help us name our kids."

* * *

A couple of minutes later, the animals were still waiting for the trio to come out when the door opened and out came Megan, cradling her squirrel family in her hands. Surly stood before the animals as Surly held up his three children and said "Welcome to the world kids, and meet everyone who's come to see you."

"Awwww!" the crowd cooed in delight as the three infant squirrels opened their eyes for the first time. Surly held up his purple furred daughter, looking into her adorable green eyes "Let's introduce you to them one by one. First, This is my daughter Madeline, but for short you can call her Maddy."

Baby Maddy giggle as she wriggled around in her father's arms, enjoying being the center of attention as she laughed happily. Surly gently gave her back to her mother before Andie switched Maddy with their red furred son, who was looking at them with the same brown eyes his father has. "And this is my son, Benjamin, or Ben for short."

Baby Ben began to sniffle and fuss before Surly quickly handed him back to Andie, who snuggled him and as Surly said "As you can see, he's already a mama's boy. But he's also my boy too."

Surly held his third child, his mixed furred daughter close as she looked at the animals with big hazel brown eyes "And last but not least this is my other daughter Isabelle. Say hi to everyone Isabelle!"

Baby Isabelle began clutching her father in fright, Surly gently comforted her by stroking her back and said "There there, don't cry, Daddy is right here."

"Ahh, I guess this mean's Isabelle's already claimed her title of Daddy's little girl." Jamie said

Buddy ran up Megan to meet his nieces and nephew with a big smile on his face, stopping just in time before he could bump into Surly and held out his arms. Surly already knew what his pal wanted and gently handed Baby Isabelle over to Buddy, saying "Here Isabelle, meet your dear Uncle Buddy."

Isabelle looked at Buddy and began to cry, Buddy frowned and looked at his friend as if he had done something wrong and sighed sadly. But then the other children began to cry as well as Buddy and Surly looked at Andie and Surly said "What's wrong with the babies?"

"They're just hungry." Andie said "Let's go home while I feed them."

Megan gently placed the squirrels and Buddy in the wagon she had brought and went back to the park, looking forward to whatever the future had planned for their lovely little family.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"WAAAAHHHH!"

Surly sat up right, snapped awake and looking around his knothole and looked around to see what was causing that racket in the middle of the night and quickly realized that it was Baby Maddy crying again. With a yawn, Surly walked over to one of the cradles Megan had created for her new siblings and picked up the crying baby "There there babe, Daddy's here now. Please go to sleep."

It had already been a week since the children were born and Surly was half ready to go mad with lack of sleep due to his children crying all hours of the night for many different reasons, mainly Maddy who cried the most while the others were sound sleepers. And tonight was none different.

"Ugh, I cannot take one more sleepless night like this." Surly said with a yawn as he rocked the still crying baby.

Andie came over, just as tired as Surly as she yawned and said "Maddy can't sleep again?"

"And if she doesn't get any sleep soon, I'll have to do something drastic." Surly said "Like staple my ears shut."

"I wish we knew what to do." Andie said as she yawned "If only we had our parents around."

"They'd probably wouldn't give us the time of day." Surly said

"Excuse me?" Andie asked, slightly offended "My parents loved me very much, it's not my fault yours were the worst."

"Say what?" Surly asked "And what makes you think yours were any perfect they were probably just as worse!"

As Andie and Surly began to argue, their loud voices woke up Baby Isabelle and Baby Ben, causing them to cry as the arguing continued for a good few moments before finally Buddy, who couldn't stand the fighting that was waking up the entire park anymore, came in and covered their mouths with his paws.

With Andie and Surly quiet, Buddy went to work trying to sooth all three crying babies. Effortlessly, he gently picked them up and held them close in his arms, gently rocking them and humming a soft, soothing tune that the pair could've sworn was a lullaby.

What was even more surprising what that the babies were slowly stopping and were now cooing in the rat's arms, gently snuggling him before as the babies slowly began to settle down and yawned. Finally they were both sound asleep and Buddy gently put them back into their cradles.

Andie and Surly were relived and impressed that Buddy had managed to settle down their children all by himself and Surly said "Well, what do you know? Buddy's a natural when it comes to child care."

"Yes, he is. This must be why he's so affectionate and caring." Andie said

Surly walked over to his buddy and slung an arm around him "Thanks for helping us out. I mean it."

Buddy looked at Surly with a smile... then it changed to an annoyed one as Surly remembered why he was like this: ever since the babies began waking up in the middle of the night both Andie and Surly have become confused, cranky and tired all the time... especially that one time he snapped at his friend just because Buddy wanted to play with the babies.

"Buddy... i'm so sorry I snapped," Surly said softly "I didn't mean too... I was just tired. Taking care of babies is hard work, but you made it look so easy. Would you mind giving us some pointers and advice sometimes?"

Buddy smiled again and hugged Surly, which was soon joined by Andie as she said "I'm sorry too boys... I didn't mean to fight with anyone, and we've been fighting with everyone lately."

"But it's not entirely our fault." Surly said "We just couldn't keep it together due to lack of sleep."

"But still, we love our children very, very much and I don't know what i'd do if I never saw my precious darlings ever again... just the thought of it gives me nightmares." Andie said

Andie wrapped her arms around Surly and he hugged her back, rubbing her back with is paws up and down to comfort her as he said "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to our babies. Daddy will always be there for them, no matter what."

"Mommy will too." Andie said with a sigh, watching her three little darlings sleep.

Buddy was about to leave when Andie grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a hug from both squirrels as Surly said "Not so fast Buddy, your still part of our family. And I can already tell you are already a perfect fit to our family. Our kids already agreed with that."

Buddy felt touched and looked at the babies with his heart melting by how adorable they looked when they were asleep. Buddy decided to spend the night with them as he slept with the babies close by. Andie and Surly decided to go back to sleep as well, knowing that their children were safe in the hands of their loving uncle.

* * *

The next morning Surly bid good bye to Andie, who was staying behind to take care of their triplets, and went off with Buddy to the mill where Megan was already in her animal costume and surrounded by several other animals who wanted to go and hunt for food with the girl.

"Is everybody ready for today?" Surly asked the group.

Megan's stomach rumbled loudly and she rubbed her furry middle as she said "I'm starving."

"Don't worry baby, we'll get you fed really soon." Surly said "Now does anyone have any questions before we begin our mission?"

"I do." Said a chipmunk girl "And I've been meaning to ask everyone this for quite some time... but where is Grayson?"

Grayson, the old park hero, who the animals had quickly replaced with Surly once they found out Surly was the one who saved them from starving during their first ever nut raid long ago. In fact, as far as Surly knew, nobody had ever seen or heard from Grayson in quite a long time.

Surly sent a pigeon to retrieve him but when the bird came back he reported that Grayson's knothole was filled with cobwebs and dust, indicating that he hadn't been home in a very, very long time. But if Grayson was no longer in the park when where was he and how long had he been gone with nobody else knowing about it until now?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Who's Grayson?" asked Megan, curious about this park animal she'd never heard before.

Mole rolled his eyes before explaining, though not at the young girl's unfamiliarity with the name "He used to be the park's 'hero'," he finger-quoted with extreme sarcasm "Before Surly here came along. Except for Surly and Buddy, we all practically worshiped the ground he walked on just because we brought into his supposed acts of 'heroism'."

Jamie nodded as she crossed her arms, though not as vehement as Mole "Not to mention all his stories about how he took down such and such. Like that one about how he took down all those rabid chickens with both hands tied behind his back? Or that one about curb stomping all those two-headed snakes with a single musty old boot?"

Mole groaned "Ugh, and don't forget how he'd always swagger around, flexing his mussels like he's some kind of Hercules. Especially that gunk he would always wear. What the heck was that stuff even made of anyway?"

Surly frowned at the explanation, well remembering his escapades with Grayson, and opened his mouth to retort when Megan suddenly snorted, much to everyone's surprise. The young girl slapped both her hands over her mouth, blushing. Clearing her throat, she addressed Mole and Jamie with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, it's just..." she held back a giggle "He sounds kinda funny."

Mole cocked his head, incredulous "Funny?" His face then went blank as he went over Megan's words and he shrugged "Okay, maybe he WAS kinda funny... but still, he was never as big of a help as he claimed to be!" Then for some reason, Mole started to twiddle his fingers "Then again, I'm not much to talk..."

Johnny clapped a hand to Mole's back "Aw, c'mon, man! That stuff with Raccoon's already a long time ago!"

"Who's Raccoon?"

All the park animals winced at the question, not particularly eager to share that part of the park's history, Surly least of all. But they couldn't lie to her either, so Surly took a deep breath and explained.

"Before Andie and I took over, there was this real old guy named Raccoon. He talked big, preaching how much he looked after the park and how important it was to him, but the truth is that he only cared about the status quo. He was willing to use anyone and do anything just to keep himself at the top."

The male squirrel then turned to Mole with a stern glare, the burrower withering under it as he continued "Grayson may have been a fraud himself, but at least he actually cared about the animals here." He looked back to Megan and said "All Raccoon wanted was power and was wary of anybody he suspected would undermine it."

Buddy nodded in agreement beside his old friend and then made a bunch of gestures that Megan had trouble catching up with.

Surly chuckled kindly at the girl's confusion "Sorry, Buddy does that when he gets excited. What he's saying is, getting rid of the old guy was probably the best thing that could've ever happened to the park. Anybody under his rule had to stick to eating whatever scraps they could find. But now that he's out of the picture, we can eat better and healthier now."

Buddy elbowed him. Surly chuckled, rubbing his side "Okay, maybe not healthier but you get what I mean."

"I don't like Raccoon." Megan said "I don't like how he messed with my family."

She heard her stomach rumbling loudly and rubbed it as she said "And I don't like how my tummy is acting greedy, especially if it gets anyone in my family in trouble."

At first everyone thought it was a joke as they giggled at little with smiles on their faces, but the moment they looked at her sad face, they realize Megan was serious about feeling bad that her family would have to go through obstacles to feed her.

"It's no biggie Megan," Surly said "We do this kind of stuff every day, even before you came along so we're used to it by now."

"Where's Mommy?" Megan asked, noticing that one member of her park family is missing.

"Taking care of the babies." Surly said "Those little fuzz balls are too little to leave the nest yet so I have to work extra hard to take care of them."

"Last time you said if the babies woke up late at night again you'd throw yourself off the roof of the mill." Johnny said with a snicker "And you sounded like you meant it."

"Yeah, well, I didn't know babies were terrible sleepers." Surly said "but I still love my kids with all my heart."

"Even me daddy?" Megan asked with a smile

"Even you darling." Surly said with a very warm smile "You are my everything.

"Awww, hugs!" Precious said, jumping on top of the child, knocking her down before she said "Oh, even better, hugs and face licks!"

Precious started to lick Megan's face, fallowed by Frankie and as the puppies nuzzle their human friend's legs, the other park animals climbed on top of her and hugged her. Megan had never felt so happy or loved in all her entire life, she felt like she belonged in the park and nothing, no force on the whole planet could take her away from her animal family.

Suddenly they heard a growling sound and Mole said "Please, tell me that was just Megan's stomach again."

"No, it's... Oh no!" Megan exclaimed in fear.

The animals jumped and turned to come face to face with a large, lean, nasty looking Doberman standing there, baring his teeth and looking at them with a nasty look in his eyes.

"Who's that guy?" Frankie asked

"He's one of the orphanage guard dogs, and the nastiest one there is!" Megan exclaimed.

"You got that right." the Doberman said "And I've come to take the freak back to the orphanage."

"Your going to take our little Megan away from us?!" Surly asked in shock.

"NO!" The park animals exclaimed in unison.

"Yes, now either you hand over her brat, or I'll make chew toys out of all of you." The dog said "Which is it going to be?


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

The park animals were looking at the Doberman who had came into their park to take back their little Megan and return her to the orphanage, and judging from the looks of how he snarled with those big fangs and the crazy eyes look he had this mutt would not be swayed so easily.

Surly wished he hadn't misplaced the dog whistle right about now as the dog approached them and the animals backed away in fright. Precious and Frankie jumped in front of their friends and growled at the dog, doing their best to protect their friends as they shouted "Back off bub! Go back to your dog house!"

But the Doberman barked back, in fact his bark was so loud and powerful it almost deafened everyone's eardrums. Precious and Frankie were forced to retreat behind Megan in fright along with their puppies.

The dog then turned his attention on Megan and said "Why waste your time with these cowardly vermin? The orphanage is where you belong."

"It's no orphanage, it's a prison!" Megan stated "And I will never go back there no matter how scary you are Murderer."

"The dog's name is Murderer?!" Surly asked in fright

"Yep, and it fits me." The Doberman said "Cause I kill anything that dares cross my path. Including you."

Everyone shivered as Murderer came closer and closer... then suddenly he heard something that made his ears hurt in agony, making him whine and howl in pain. Surly quickly realized Buddy was blowing the dog whistle as the rat stood on top of Megan's shoulder.

Finally, Murderer couldn't take the constant blowing of the irritating high pitched whistle anymore and ran off "You may have one this time, but I don't give up so easily! I'll be back!"

Once the large dog was out of sight, Buddy stopped blowing the whistle and snuggled close to Megan, making her smile as the animals cheered... all but Precious, Frankie and the puppies, who were quite angry at the rat for what he did.

"What did you do that for? Are you trying to make me and my family go deaf?!" Frankie snapped angrily at the rat, who ducked into Megan's hair in fear.

"Hey, don't be so harsh on the little guy, he was just trying to protect us." Surly said, rushing to the dogs side "Besides, if he hadn't have blown the whistle who knows what that bully of a mutt would do to us."

The dogs frowned, realizing Surly was right as Frankie looked up at Buddy, who was looking at them sadly, and said "Sorry about snapping at you Buddy, and thanks for giving that bully what for."

Buddy smiled, feeling better as he climbed down and the dogs licked him out of gratitude. Everyone enjoyed the moment before Megan's stomach interrupted, roaring as loud as a lion as she rubbed it and said "Sorry."

"Sheesh, kid. Sometimes I swear your stomach has a mind of it's own." Surly said with a grin "But your right, now let's focus on our everyday goal: food."

* * *

After the successful food raids of the day, night time finally fell and everyone was asleep with full bellies and having sweet dreams together... well, almost everyone was asleep.

Andie, who had heard what happened, moved her family into the mill to keep an eye on Megan, in fact she moved the entire park into the mill, but made enough room for her babies to crawl around in without them getting lost or in danger of hurting themselves.

"Don't you think your being a little overprotective Andie?" Surly asked as he watched his wife pace around while making sure her babies were safe and sound in the baby pin she had made to keep them in so they wouldn't wander around in the middle of the night.

"How can you not?" Andie asked, making sure her voice was low so that she wouldn't wake up the children or the others "We almost lost Megan. If Buddy hadn't used the dog whistle then my baby would have..."

"I know, and I'm grateful for him, I was more concerned that you would drive yourself crazy trying to make sure everyone is safe, I mean everyone loves you as much as I do and we don't want to see you... how shall I put this... fry your brains if you go to far."

Andie looked at Surly and then sighed as she said "Your right... I do tend to overwork myself to death more times then I should have... I'm sorry Surly."

"It's okay, as long as you remember to take time to smell the flowers we'll be alright." Surly said

"Mama... Papa..."

The two turned their attention to Megan, who was beginning to toss and turn as she whimpered in her sleep. Immediately, Surly and Andie knew what to do. Surly went to the left side of Megan's head while Andie took the right and as they both rubbed their human child's head, Surly whispered in her ear "There, there kiddo, everything's going to be alright. Mommy and Daddy are right here."

Megan smiled as she stopped squirming and fell silent. Andie and Surly pulled her blanket back over her shoulders and wished her good night before tucking themselves in and falling deep asleep. Unknown to them, a pair of rats had been watching the whole thing and one of them, a rat that was blind in one eye, looked up at his companion and said "Well I'll be, looks like Surly's gotten busy since the boss met with him last."

"He's got a heroic reputation, Andie's his wife, they got kids and one of them is a full blown human being!" the other said.

"Let's go tell the boss." the one eyed rat said "He's going to be so jealous when he finds out Surly's living like a king and he's stuck feasting on scraps in the junkyard."

"All the more reason he'll want to kill him, let's go." said the other rat.

Together the pair climbed down the wooden walls of the mill, sprinted across the grass and darted out of the park before anyone even noticed a thing out of the ordinary.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

As red and orange from the sun started to peek over the horizon, the rats reached their destination: the older, historical district of Oakton. This section of the city sported building dating as far back as the 40s, the palettes of that ae clashing with the current age.

Skittering into then up a pipe of one of those buildings, the rodents soon emerged into a dimly lit room, the windows closed off enough by ratty old curtains to allow all occupants enough light to at least see. Across the room, opposite from the rats' entrance, stood a huge fraying red armchair where they saw an elderly raccoon sitting within it.

The raccoon regarded his visitors with sharp, inquisitive eyes. "So... what news have you brought me?"

One of the rats stepped up, at attention like a solider in the presence of the older mammal "Sir, it seemed your old follower, Andie, and that squirrel Surly have really been living it up since your dethronement. They even have kids now."

Raccoon could only scoff, hardly surprised "I suspected Andie would choose to waste her life with Surly. The girl was always sentimental like that." he stroked his chin and added "Any news on Grayson and his whereabouts?"

All the rodents shook their heads "Afraid not. We haven't found a single trace of him. It's almost as though he's vanished from the face of the earth!"

That's rather odd, Raccoon mused. Grayson never excelled at covering his tracks before, so the rat's words left the elder pondering. Could that squirrel have gotten help after he left?

"And that's not even the juiciest detail, sir," the rat continued "Remember when I said Andie and Surly have kids now? Well, one of 'em's adopted... and they're human."

Silence at first. Then full scale laughter. Raccoon nearly fell out of his seat from laughing so hard. Once he recovered, still wheezing, he wiped a tear from his eye and said "Oh you rats and your sense of humor. There is positively no way they'd be foolish enough to take in a human child as their own. Humans aren't even meant to live in parks... well, unless perhaps they're homeless or something."

"Actually sir, as far as we could see, that kid probably was. Otherwise, someone besides that dog would have come looking for her by now."

Raccoon furrowed his brows.

Noticing his boss' confusion, the rat pointed to the west "Some Doberman came by the other day and almost snatched the human off, trying to take her back to the orphanage. As you'd expect Surly and his pals came and got her out of trouble. The weird thing is, though, all of them talked to her as though she could understand them. And guess what? She talked back!"

Impossible! Raccoon needed a moment to let this news sink in. A human... that could talk to animals? How was that even possible? After a moment of silence he climbed out of his chair and said "I see, a human that can talk to animals... I've got to see this for myself."

"Why would you be interested in something as freaky as that?" The rat asked

"Simple, with the right cunning plan she could become the key to Surly's undoing, my new toy I can play around with like a puppet under my command." Raccoon said as he walked over to the window and opened it wide "The question is... how do I manipulate such a sweet, innocent and very powerful mind like that of a human child? How indeed..."

* * *

Meanwhile Surly was waking up to the sound of chirping birds, the sound of cars in the street and, his most favorite sound of all, the playful gurgling of his triplet children. He looked up and smiled to see Andie cradling their two daughters and one son in her arms, giggling herself as her son playfully grabbed her nose and shook it.

"Aren't you just a playful little bunch today? Yes you are, yes you are my beautiful little babies." Andie cooed sweetly.

"Now this is worth getting up early in the morning to see." Surly said with a grin.

"Look kids, daddy's awake." Andie said as the babies turned to see their father getting up and walking towards them.

Surly kissed Andie's cheek before he took his children in his arms, playfully shaking them as they squealed in delight.

"How are my three little nut-nuts today? Are you happy to play with Dada?" Surly asked in a baby voice as the babies cooed at him "Who luvs you, who luvs you all so very much? It's Dada, yes it is. Yes Dada luvs you very very..."

He looked up to see Andie looking at him with a pleasant, sly look on her face and Surly gently placed the triplets down as he said "Okay, I think we all get the idea."

Andie smiled before she frowned and said "You... You don't think that me becoming a mother is making me... well... too soft for my own good right?"

"What are you talking about?" Surly asked

"I overheard some of the animals say that it was completely unnecessary to move everyone into the mill for the night when it should've been just my family, and the girls are gossiping that i'm not the girl I was before anymore." Andie said with a sigh "I used to be a tough, fierce, feisty and aggressive squirrel who wouldn't take no for an answer and now i'm..."

"The world's most wonderful mate, mother and best friend a guy like me is extremely lucky to have around." Surly said with a comforting smile "Don't pay any attention to what those guys say, you're just still getting used to being a mother but it's not like you have to give up a part of you to do it. You are still that dame I fell in love with and you will always be that dame now and for always."

Andie looked a little unsure but Surly gently nudged her and said "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, how about I let you lead a heist this time around while I take care of the kids right here."

"I don't know... are you sure you can handle being a stay at home dad?" Andie asked

"Oh please, how hard can it be to take care of three adorable babies all by yourself?" Surly replied "Trust me Andie, i'm not the type who backs down on a challenge."

"Or admits he's too stubborn for reasonable help." Andie added.

"Hey, nobody's perfect, okay?" Surly said "So what do you say?"

Andie smiled and said "Okay, maybe a heist will be just what I need to turn things around."

"That's my girl." Surly said "Now go and plan your heist."

Andie kissed Surly once more before she left and said "I'll be back soon!"

"I'll be waiting right here." Surly called back.

He turned to look back at his three kids and said "Okay, what's the first thing on Daddy's To do list?"

The three looked at their tummies as they grumbled and pointed to their open mouths and Surly already knew what that meant: Food.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Andie bounded her way over to the mill where she was stunned to see everyone already at the mill with glum looks on their faces. She walked over to Buddy, who was among the Bruisers, and said "What's going on here?"

"Megan had a nightmare about losing us, her whole family." Jamie said "It's kind of putting everyone in a very depressed mood."

Andie could see Buddy was in tears and she gently wiped them away as she hugged her friend "Don't cry Buddy, i'll talk to Megan and cheer her up again."

Buddy sniffled and smiled at Andie before the red squirrel entered the mill and found the child crying in her little sleeping area. Andie rushed over to the child and gently stroked the child's forehead as she said "There there Megan, i'm right here for you darling."

"Ma... Mama... I had a horrible nightmare and when I told the others about it, they all cried as well. I didn't mean to make them miserable with my own nightmare." Megan sobbed as she continued to cry.

"It's okay honey, we all need to cry sometimes. Crying isn't a bad thing, it's actually a good thing because it shows others that you care about someone or something the very most."

"R-Really?" Megan asked with a sniffle.

"Yes, take it from mommy." Andie said "Now, how about we talk about this nightmare of yours?"

"I... I had a bad dream where some nasty adults came and took you all away in cages." Megan said "All I could do was watch on as everybody was forced inside a cage and I was taken back to the orphanage. I... I tried to break out but I was trapped in a cage and... and then someone told me that... That you... Daddy... Uncle Buddy... everyone in my park family... was dead! I... I..."

"Shhh... there there, it was just a bad dream." Andie said in a motherly tone "It was just nothing but a bad dream."

Megan managed to calm down as she looked at her squirrel mother and said "Is it possible to have a parent who's also your best friend?"

"Yeah, it sure is. That's how I feel about you... and that's what makes you twice as special." Andie said

Megan smiled and pulled Andie into a snuggling hug that Andie was very pleased to have all to herself.

"I almost miss having to feel my baby brother and sisters kicking around inside your tummy." Megan said

"I know, I miss the feeling too... but I'm glad that they were delivered safely and I adore cuddling those little angels of mine in my arms." Andie said as she blissfully sighed at the thought "Just thinking about those beautiful babies of mine makes my heart sing a song of love, happiness and-"

"HELP!"

Andie's thoughts were interrupted when a sudden cry for help entered her ears and she gasped "Surly?!"

The girls got out to see Surly in severe panic as Andie ran over to him as he cried "Andie! The babies! Someone stole them!"

"WHAT!?" Andie and the others shouted in horror

"I turned by back to prepare some food, for them but-but when I turned back around they were gone! I looked everywhere but-aack!"

He was interrupted when Andie grabbed him by the throat and snarled "How could you loose sight of our babies in just five seconds?!"

"I... I CAN'T BREATHE!" Surly gasped loudly as he tried to wriggle out of his mate's raging grasp.

"Stop it Mommy, we have to find the babies, that's more important then who's fault this is!" Megan said

Andie let go of Surly as she began to break down into tears, falling down to her knees as said "My... my babies... why would someone... take my babies away?!" Tears fell down her eyes as she sobbed and Surly immediately came to her side to comfort her as did Buddy but nothing they did would make Andie's broken heart mend faster.

Then a familiar crying sound came off in the distance not too far away and Andie gasped, looking up before Surly said "That's Maddy! I recognize her loud but cute cries anywhere! Follow that crying!"

* * *

"Ugh, please stop crying!" the rat exclaimed as he plugged his ears. By his feet were the pilfered children of Andie and Surly which he had been ordered to take back to Raccoon but one of them started crying and it was driving him completely off the wall!

"You want me to sing or something?" The rat asked Baby Maddy as she continued to cry "Want a snack? Juice? A potty break? WHAT DO YOU WANT ALRREADY!?"

Then Baby Isabelle and Baby Ben began crying as well as the rat began growling angrily before he picked up a large rock and said "If you bite sized brats don't pipe down right now, i'm going to squish you all like bugs under human shoes!"

The trio of infants continued to cry as the rat snarled and said "Alright, you asked for it!"

He was about to drop it when suddenly a blur of while broke the rock above him into a ton of little pebbles and the rat gasped at the sudden move before he saw Mr. Feng, who had managed to arrive as he said "You have just made a grave mistake rat, a very grave and foolish mistake."

"Back off fluff butt, I don't have to listen to you." The rat said, shaking off his shock.

"Don't you know the most important and sacred rule of all time? Never come between a mother and her children." Mr. Feng said

"Or what squirt?" The rat asked.

"That." Mr. Feng said as he pointed behind him.

The rat turned around to see Andie, with fire burning in her eyes as she roared like a tiger and charged straight towards the rat at full speed, making him scream like a girl before Andie tackled him and began to pound the rat to pieces as the others watched on all around them.

Andie twisted the rats' limbs, slammed his head into a tree, grabbed him by the foot and beat him across the floor, tied knots in his tail, twisted his ears and punched him like crazy as if she was in the middle of an official wrestling match before she took him by his knotted tail and spun him around for a bit before tossing him over the wall, across the street and smack into a tough window paint.

Andie took several deep breaths once the fight was over and rushed over to her children, checking each one as she exclaimed "Oh my darlings! Are any of you hurt? Did that nasty rat harm my precious bundles of joy?!"

At first the babies were quiet, then Baby Ben let out a burp and the trio of tots giggled happily. Andie sighed with relief as she scooped up her infants and hugged them tight "Don't worry my darlings, Mama won't ever let this happen again."

"Mama..." Baby Ben said

"My baby boy talked! His first word is Mama! Oh, i'm so proud of you honey!" Andie cooed in delight at her son before she looked at her daughters and said "And pretty soon, you two will be able to talk as well."

Then she noticed something was off and she finally realized that while she had been cuddling her children, her friends were still in awe of how she beat up that rat as Andie asked "Uh... how long have you been staring like that?"

"That was awesome! You kicked rat butt good!" Johnny said with excitement

"You're tougher then any other animal in the park, well, besides our human that is." Jimmy said with just as much excitement "Wasn't she awesome?!"

Andie blushed. Then she noticed Surly and said "Honey? Are you alright?"

Surly shook his shock off and smiled before he said "I told ya you still got it."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

If Andie's beating had been the worst punishment the rat had received, the one Raccoon gave him the moment he returned was a close second.

By the time the Procyon's tranquil fury had cooled down, the rat was even more of a pulp than after Andie had been through with him. The other rodents just cowered against the wall, trembling from their leader's display of silent wrath.

"Now then," the elder mammal finally spoke, eyes sharper than needles as they bore into the near comatose rat "What have we learned today?"

"I-I-It's not my fault!" the rat tried to plead despite his battered body "Those darn brats don't know how to-"

A harsh tap to the floor of Raccoon's newly acquired cane shut the rat up instantly. Huffing in satisfaction that he got the message across, Raccoon started to pace the floor "Well, I think it's safe to say that kidnapping those kits has NOT worked to our advantage. Most of those fools may write that incident off for now, but I know Andie. She's far too smart and observant to make that mistake, and Surly's no slouch when it comes to intelligence either."

He started to stroke his chin in deep thought as he said "Hmm... perhaps we're targeting the wrong weak spot. Hmm..." a devious smile started to take over his snout as he turned to his subordinates "My boys, perhaps it's time an old friend of yours paid us a visit."

* * *

Buddy could only look on in worry as Surly kept a blank yet tense gaze over his kits as they played around, the little ones too engrossed in their roughhousing to notice their father's mood.

The concerned rat gingerly stepped up to his old friend and put a gentle hand on the squirrel's shoulder. Surly jolted a little at the touch, but relaxed once he looked over his shoulder and realized it was only his friend.

"Oh, hey Bud," he greeted with faux cheer and a strained smile "Something up?"

The rodent's concerned gaze remained. Surly felt his façade start to crumble. He forced a chuckle "C-C'mon, man! Don't I look okay to you?"

Buddy shook his head no.

The squirrel eventually groaned with both hands over his face, giving in "Okay, I'm not okay," he made sure to whisper to avoid startling the kids, "Happy?! I'm trying my best not to let the kids out of my sight again." Speaking of which, Surly redirected his state to the kits, all of whom were still present thank goodness "You saw what Andie did to me the moment that rat took 'em."

He shivered at the feel of divine fury in his wife's eyes. Yeah, he couldn't blame her for being so upset at him, but he never expected she would get physical with him. She must still be furious at him for this and might never want to speak to him again.

Then the mammals heard someone coming and turned to see that it was Megan, who looked very concerned as she said "Are they alright?"

"Yeah, the babies are alright." Surly said "Andie just fed them and now they're playing with each other till their next naptime."

Megan smiled before her stomach roared and she rubbed it hungrily as she said "In all the excitement, I forgot to eat anything."

"I know, the whole scare made us forget a lot of things." Surly said "But don't worry, we'll be ready for anything next time and no rat will dare touch any little tuff of fur on my babies again!"

Buddy looked at him and Surly quickly added "Except for Buddy, of course, Buddy is a good exception."

Megan rubbed her belly, which kept growling none stop, and sat down rubbing it as she said "Oh why must my tummy be so greedy and hungry all the time?"

"Don't ask me," Surly said as he took a quick look at his playing kits and then back at Megan "All I know is that you gotta eat when you gotta eat. Say Kiddo, how would you like to lead your own food raid for a while?"

"W-Without you?" Megan asked "I don't know Daddy."

"I'm going to be busy around the clock protecting my three furry babies." Surly explained "But don't worry, since he's helped you before, Uncle Buddy will get you started. Then you'll have the confidence to go out to hunt food as much as you want. Providing supervision of course."

Megan giggled as Buddy climbed up and tickled her, making her laugh before he stood on her shoulder and pecked her cheek with a loving kiss.

Surly heard a little yawn and realized that his children were starting to fall asleep as they yawned and the purple squirrel picked them up in his arms as he said "Well, I gotta take these little fuzzies back home so they can go to bed. Have fun you guys."

Megan smiled before she said "Come on Uncle Buddy, let's go food hunting."

Buddy nodded and the pair ran off. Surly smiled before he felt one of his children squirming and turned his attention to them just in time to receive a slobbery baby kiss from Baby Isabelle who looked at him with sparkling eyes and spoke her first word "Dada!"

Surly's heart melted as tears of joy fell from his eyes. He snuggled his children and said "I love being a father."

* * *

As time went by, Megan began getting very good at stealing food to feed herself thought she would always share with the others every chance she got. Over time, Megan began to become getting very plump and it showed. The animals would often have fun bouncing on top of Megan's plumpy stomach like a trampoline and gathering things for her to make arts and crafts with so that her mill home would look wonderful.

Everything was perfectly perfect... then Winter came and the animals would soon be faced with a very difficult challenge: keeping Megan alive though the winter until spring.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

If yesterday had been no challenge to the animals and Megan, today was quickly becoming a challenge. It had begun to rain, and it didn't look like it would stop raining any time soon. At least that was how it looked, everything was being pelted by buckets of rain water, buildings, trees and a whole lot more. Luckily the animals provided enough food to survive the rain and thunder storm so they were okay but there was the problem with keeping Surly and Andie's kits safe from harm.

Luckily Surly was smart enough to provide just the very things they needed to keep the kits safe and warm inside their nest and Andie did her best to provide loving comfort to her children with lullabies and stories and a whole lot of cuddling.

Then there was Megan. The thunder storm was making her home so cold and damp she was thinking she might need a second suit of furs just to survive. The animals did their best preparing the girl by fixing up the whole in the roof with a tarp and giving her more blankets to snuggle in but they feared it would never be enough.

Megan was also worried she would go hungry all day long due to the fact that the ground was slippery, the people were locked inside their own homes to avoid being caught in the rain and she was worried about what would happen if she ever got sick. If she fell ill, what will become of her and what will happen to her loving furry family?

Megan had to make sure that she would survive the storm like all the other animals in the park but how if nearly all of the food in town seemed to be out of reach? Just thinking about food made Megan's plump, round belly rumble with hunger. She had tried to settle her greedy stomach down but the stubborn thing just kept demanding for food and with the Thunder and lightning crashing outside, she was too afraid to go out and look for food all by herself.

Inside her nest, Megan was shivering as she snuggled up in her blankets and her belly kept rumbling to no end. She was cold, she was hungry and she was just plain stumped at what to do. Surly and Buddy came by and Surly spoke up saying "Hey Kiddo, at you doing okay?"

"I'm freezing, and I'm hungry." Megan said.

"I know, but we can't go out and look for food right now. We'll have to wait until the rain storm is over to find you something to eat." Surly said "I just don't want to risk anything bad happening to you."

"Okay, Daddy..." Megan said "I'll try to be patient."

"That's my girl." Surly said "Now we better get going before the wind blows us away. Come on Buddy."

Buddy blew a kiss to Megan and then went back outside to go home. Megan sighed before her stomach rumbled loudly again, making her mumble as she tried to sooth her empty, impatient stomach "Oh if only there was I way I could find food without putting myself in danger."

"There is my dear."

Megan gasped when she heard the voice and turned to see Raccoon, smiling at her warmly as he walked in, shaking the rain water from his fur and said "Parton my intrusion my dear, but I was just passing by on my way home to the junkyard and I couldn't resist stopping by for a visit to see if the rumors about you are true."

Megan smiled, feeling safe around this mammal as he walked over to her and said "Oh, nice to meet you. And you said you could help me right?"

The raccoon smiled before he stopped next to her and said "I know every single part of the city my child, and the quickest way to get to anywhere is through the sewers. Sure the smell is terrible but if you happen to know the way as well as I, finding your way will be no problem at all."

"Well, I am hungry but I can't go outside or else I'll be blown away or struck by lightning worse." Megan said.

Raccoon patted Megan's middle, receiving a loud rumble as a response and he said "My, you sound completely starved. Don't worry, I'll take care of you. I am quite fond of children and unlike the park animals, I happen to know my way around obstacles. Just trust me."

* * *

Megan climbed down into the sewers where it was smelly and dark but very warm. Suddenly there was light and Megan looked down to see some rats with a lantern for her to carry and she took it as she said "Thank you." then she looked at Raccoon and said "So, where to?"

"Just go straight ahead. Don't worry, I'll send one of my friends to tell your park family where you're going." Raccoon said.

Megan smiled before she added "By the way, I never got your name. Mine's Megan."

"Mine is Winston." Raccoon said, knowing that using his real name would not be a good idea.

Megan smiled before she walked off. When she was a good enough distance away, Raccoon turned to one of his rat minions as he said "When are we going to pounce her and make her ours?"

"Not yet, she has to get used to get use to us first. We have to win her trust, make her want to stand by us. That is we have to make her love us as much as she loves Surly and those other traitors in the park." Raccoon said "And that will take time. But trust me, if all goes well, she'll be worshipping the ground we walk on in no time. That foolish child already trusts her gullible heart more then strict rules. After all, what better way to quickly win a child's heart is through her stomach?"

The rats giggled before Megan shouted "Winston! I need your help!"

"Just be patient boys, we've just begun reeling her in." Raccoon said before he ran off to catch up with Megan.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

A crack of thunder jostled Surly from his sleep.

He tried to go back to sleep yet for some reason, his mind kept nagging at him to do something. What, he had absolutely no idea. Oh well, he couldn't bring himself back to sleep anyway and the rain had let down to a drizzle.

Maybe he could check on Megan, remembering how uncomfortable she'd seemed before everyone went to sleep. Heck, maybe he could even snag something from one of the human eateries and surprise her with it. Hunger is no picnic, after all.

With a lithe stretch and a soft yawn, Surly stood up and gave Andie and their kits a quick look-over before turning to go outside.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Surly flinched at Andie's voice despite how softly she had spoken. He sighed before facing his mate, who now stood before him with crossed arms and a patient yet demanding frown. "I'm just going to check on Megan then get her some food. I promise I'll be back soon."

Andie's countenance stated to soften, almost as though in... guilt?

"Poor thing, she must absolutely be starving." the red squirrel said "It's not easy taking care of kits when one of them is too big to fit into a tree knothole."

"Yeah, but we still love her anyway." Surly said before he quickly gave Andie a kiss on her cheek "But don't worry, i'll take care of her. I am a father after all."

"Yes, and the best one ever as far as I can tell." Andie said

"Even thought I... I... almost lost..." Surly hung his head in shame at the memory of almost losing his babies to that rat before Andie gave him the beating of his life.

Andie gently lifted his head and said "It's okay, we didn't lose them and that's all that matters, I'm sorry I took out my anger on you though."

"It's okay." Surly said before he left the knothole and bid Andie good bye.

He was halfway at the mill when he ran into Buddy, who was looking worried and the squirrel knew why "You worried about Megan too aren't you?"

Buddy nodded before he looked at the mill and Surly put a comforting hand on the rat's shoulder as he said "Don't worry Buddy, I'm sure that the kid is okay. If she's anything like me, she's probably already found some munchies to munch on by now."

However, when Surly and Buddy entered the mill they were shocked to find the nest empty and Megan was no where to be found. That sent Surly and Buddy into a panicked spree as Surly shouted "MEGAN! MEGAN, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

* * *

Inside a bistro, Megan was helping herself to some leftover food that the owners had left out for homeless people and by the time she was done there wasn't even a crumb left to be found. She let out a belch as she patted her very full tummy and sighed as she said "Oh boy, I've never felt so full in my entire life."

"Glad you could enjoy yourself my dear." Raccoon said as he approached her from the shadows to look at her.

Megan licked her lips before she looked outside and noticed that the rain had completely stopped... and it was very dark outside. Megan gasped as she cried "Oh no, I stayed for too long! Everyone is going to be furious with me now!"

"My dear, I don't mean to question your relationship with the animals but, how well do you... really know them?" Raccoon asked

"For... a couple of weeks, why?" Megan asked

"Oh for no reason... but a tragic event took place the last time the park took care of a human child such as yourself." Raccoon said "You see, once upon a time another little girl, an orphan named Juliette, used to make her home in Liberty Park and was taken in by the animals just like you. They fed her, took care of her, spoiled her with endless and undying love and affection. But sadly it was all a ruse."

"A ruse?" Megan asked.

"You see, they never actually cared for her, they only wanted her to keep loud mouth, mean brats, and vile pets out of their way so they could live without being threatened by anyone." Raccoon said "One day poor little Juliette discovered the truth and ran away, never to be seen again. Of course I heard rumors that a wild and hungry alligator who stalks the streets at night found Juliette and at her up!"

Megan gasped "No!"

"Yes!" the old Raccoon exclaimed "Poor thing ended up a meal inside the monster's belly. So unless you want to end up in that monster's belly too, I suggest you find proof of your park family's love for you, and if they really do care for you as a member of their family and not some guarding pet."

"They... they would never... after I told them... I... I gotta go home, right now! Bye Winston, and thank you for the food!"

Megan struggled to pick herself up, which wasn't easy with a very heavy feeling in her stomach and walked out the door, careful not to accidently trip the alarm thanks to the rats and ran back home with the moonlight as her guide.

Once she was gone, Raccoon smirked before one of the rat minions walked over to him and said "Uh boss, are you sure no gator is going to come get us?

"Ha-Ha! You fool!" Raccoon laughed "There is no alligator and there is no Juliette, I made it all up to scare her into doubting her relationship with her so called adopted 'family', and that foolish child actually believes me! Did you see the look on her face? She'll be crawling back to me in no time... then our real plans will begin."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

Megan was heading back to her park home, as fast as she could with the light of the moonlight to lead her home but it wasn't a very useful light since a large cloud covered it and left everything completely dark. Megan was scared stiff, shivering from the cold and what's worse her meal was not agreeing with her as it kept making loud, uncomfortable rumbling sound, making Megan clutch her tummy in pain as she moaned and said "Oh, my poor tummy! I ate too much pizzas."

She tried to continue onward but the pain within her belly was too much to handle and she sat down beside a set of stairs and placed both her hands on her noisy stomach, moaning and groaning as her middle roared and gurgled to no end.

"Oh, why a tummy ache right now?" Megan asked as she tried to breathe through the pain "What am I going to do now?"

"Are you alright?" a voice asked

Megan gasped before a bright light flashed at her. After a moment, Megan looked at the person and realized that it was a ten year old girl wearing a nightgown and a robe looking back at her from the doorway of the very house Megan had stopped in front of. Megan was frightened as she said "Please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stumble here, I was just trying to get home but it's dark and I have this horrible tummy ache and..."

Much to her surprise, the girl took Megan's hand and helped her up "The least I can do for you is give you something to soothe your aching tummy. My name's Sofia Jacobs, what's your name?"

"Megan." Megan said simply.

"Well, you don't look homeless, apart from the messy pajamas your wearing." Sofia said "I can offer you a place to stay for a while until your family comes for you."

"Well... Okay." Megan said with a small smile before she added "Won't your parents be mad?"

"Oh, don't worry, we are a very generous and understanding family." Sofia said "You see, ever since the whole Liberty Land amusement park scam blew up at the last mayor's face, my father has been working to win the election as the new mayor... maybe helping you can help him."

"You want me to help your father become the next mayor of Oakton?" Megan asked in surprise "How can I do that?"

"Simple, let us help you." Sofia said "My Daddy loved to help people in need."

Megan was about to speak again when she looked up and saw a tall man in pajamas looking down at her with a smile as he said "Oh, I'm sorry for scaring you but I didn't want to startle you if I came out to welcome you in. So I sent my daughter Sofia instead."

"Th... thank you for your kindness Mr. Jacobs." Megan said softly.

"How about a nice change of clothes and a bath to clean you up a bit?" Mr. Jacobs suggested

"If it's not to much trouble, okay." Megan said with a growing smile.

* * *

The next day Megan woke up in the guest bedroom that Mr. Jacobs had put her in, she had enjoyed that bubble bath she was given and loved the new clothes that Sofia gave her to wear, but still she felt really bad that she stayed away from the park for so long, especially since this time she was out all by herself. They must be worried sick.

Sofia came in with some pancakes and gave them to Megan as she said "Good morning, I hope you like pancakes."

"Thanks, as soon as I eat, I'm going home." Megan said.

"It was our pleasure." Sofia said "Now where do you live?"

Megan was about to speak when suddenly a loud voice snapped "MEGAN!"

Megan jumped and looked at the floor along with Sofia to find Surly, Andie and Buddy looking at her with crossed looks on their faces. To Sofia the squirrels were just squeaking and chattering while Megan flinched at the scolding she got from her parents before they calmed down enough to finally notice Sofia.

"Who is this?" Andie asked.

Megan picked up the trip and said "Sofia, this is my family. Uncle Buddy and my adoptive parents Surly and Andie. Guys, this is Sofia, my new best friend who took care of me all though the night when I got lost, and don't worry, she's kind and very friendly. Will it be okay if we take her to the park to show her around?"

Sofia looked on before she finally had the nerve to speak and she said "Can you... talk to animals?"

"Yes, you think that's weird?" Megan asked.

Sofia grinned and said "You are totally awesome! You have got to introduce me to your animal friends!"

"Okay, fallow me!" Megan said.

Megan placed the trio on her shoulders and took Sofia's hand before they headed back to the park. But little did they know a familiar Doberman was watching them as the dog snarled "Just you wait you little orphaned street mouse, I swear on my last chewed up bone that I will find a way to bring you back to the orphanage and shove you back into your cage where you belong, even if I have to drag you back there myself with my own jaws. But those park idiots would just use their dog whistle on me if I get too close to you... I have to get rid of it or at least block the sound from hurting my ears, but how?"

It was then that he noticed some people walking past a musical performance and noticed that some of the people were wearing earplugs in order to keep the loud music from blaring in their ears so they could enjoy it better... and that gave Murderer an idea. He was going to get back at those park animals for what they did to him, and he was going to give it to them good.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

Something was off about Megan. Surly could tell.

Whenever she talked with Sofia, she sounded just fine yet whenever Surly himself or the other animals tried talking to her, Megan would either clam up or give only a mumbled answer, nervous. Was she still rattled about the way they sneaked up on and harped her? Then again, she gave them a real scare, disappearing like that, so didn't they have the right to be upset?

Surly rubbed a hand down his face. Ugh, why did being a dad have to be so tricky?

"Hey, is this where you guys live?" Sofia asked as she looked at the mill from the hill they were on.

Megan turned to Sofia with a smile, happy for a reprieve from whatever her mind just went. She pointed to the mill in the distance. "Yeah! That's the mill where I stay since it's the only place big enough for me," then she pointed to the oak tree and said "And that's where everyone else lives."

Sofia tilted her head with awestruck eyes "Huh. That's pretty cool! You get to live out in nature!"

Megan rubbed her head, blushing "Heh, yeah. That's the gist of it. It's not easy, of course, but it's kind of fun once you get used to it!"

"So," Sofia turned to her new friend, curious "What kind of things do you do here for fun?"

Megan blinked, at a bit of a loss "F-Fun?"

"Yeah, you live in a park after all. There's always gotta be something to do around here."

"Um..." Megan looked to the ground for a moment, unsure "That's a good question actually."

As Megan talked to Sofia, Andie walked over to Surly and said "I think I know why she's acting like this; she's afraid of telling her new friend her gift."

"Why would she be afraid of that?" Surly asked

"Well, it is uncommon for humans to talk to animals as naturally as Megan does." Andie said "In fact, come to think about it... if a human went around claiming to talk to animals with no proof of such a talent then the other humans will think he or she made it up for attention or is completely crazy."

Surly felt like the answer just slapped him in the face as he said "Of course! Why didn't I see that before? I'm so stupid not to see that coming. I'll go talk to her right away."

Once Sofia had her backed turned to play with Precious, Frankie and their puppies, Surly climbed up Megan's shoulder and said "Honey, I think I know why your like this. And I would like to say that there's no need to be ashamed of your gift."

"Is that what you told the other human girl you took care of right before you disowned her and let her be eaten by a gator?" Megan asked, feeling that she must get straight to the truth immediately before anything else.

"W-What?!" Surly gasped in shock.

"Is the only reason why you took me in was so I could act like a body guard or a pet to you?" Megan asked, sounding a little more hurt and angry then before "Is our family love for real or not?"

"What are you talking about?" Surly asked "Where did you get such a ridicules idea from?"

"Don't lie to me," Megan scold the confused purple squirrel "While I starve in the mill, a kind raccoon named Winston took me to feed me and told me all about what you and the rest of the park animals did to another orphan named Juliette but you turned her away and abandoned her."

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard." Surly said

"Is it true or not!?" Megan snapped

"Don't you dare talk in that tone of voice at me missy!" Surly snapped back "I don't even have a clue what your talking about! I don't know any Juliette and the only raccoon I know is-"

"Murderer! Murderer is back!"

Megan and Surly jumped as they turned around to see Mole and some of the other park animals running for their lives as the dreaded Doberman charged towards them. Surly quickly climbed down from Megan and ran down towards Andie, who had already grabbed the dog whistle and blew it... but the dog didn't stop. She blew on the whistle again, but the only dogs she hurt with the whistle was Precious and her family, who whined in pain.

"What's going on?" Surly asked in alarm "Why isn't the big dog stopping?!"

When Murderer got to close, the squirrels dropped the whistle to run away, allowing the Doberman to crush the whistle with his paws before he felt someone remove the fluffy stuffing he got from inside an old toy and turned to see it was Megan, who looked at him in anger as she said "What's the big idea stuffing your ears with these? That's not fair you know!"

"It doesn't matter now." Murderer said "With the dog whistle gone, I don't have anything standing in my way to take you back to the orphanage where you belong."

Unknown to them, Raccoon and some of his rat minions were watching the whole thing and Raccoon snarled as he said "Oh no, that stupid dog is going to ruin everything!"

"How about we wait for the dog to take the girl back to the orphanage and take her from there?" the rat asked

"You mean the same place rigged with rat poison, multiple kids and a squad of rodent hungry guard dogs?" Raccoon asked "If that blasted dog succeeds in his plan before our own, we'll lose Megan in the crowd of children for sure and we'll never get another chance at revenge against those free loaders!"

"What are we going to do now boss?" the other rat asked.

"I'm afraid we have no choice." Raccoon said firmly "We must put our own plan into action sooner then we planned. Oh how I hate rushing a perfectly good plan when someone threatens to ruin it."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One**

It was complete and total chaos in Liberty Park as all of the park animals panicked and ran around trying to avoid being caught by Murderer, who by now was chasing after the vile vermin who had dared sic' that nasty dog whistle on him before he found a way to block the sound from coming into his ears and destroying the whistle with ease. Now with his ears unplugged, the mammals kept running around and not even Precious or Frankie stood a chance against the dog, he just picked them up by their collars and chucked them into the river.

The two girls were frightened by the sight as they looked around to try and find a way to escape the nasty Doberman before he could sink his teeth into them. Raccoon climbed into a tree and stood on a branch above the dog, not wanting the mutt to interfere with his plans... while he realized he could use this to his advantage.

Timing himself just right, Raccoon jumped from the tree and landed right onto the dog's back, grabbing the dog's collar before he hung on, the dog trying to buck him off like a wild bull with a cowboy hanging onto his back. Sofia had ran off in fear of the dog while Megan watched on. She hoped that Surly, Andie, anyone in her park family would come to try and help the raccoon... but they never came. They were too terrified of the giant dog to do anything but Megan mistook it for a whole different reason entirely.

 _"He... he was right..."_ Megan thought to herself tearfully, her heart broke into two pieces as tears fell from her eyes.

She was jolted from her depression when Murderer charged out of the park, with Raccoon on his back and Megan fallowed them. She stopped in an alley where Raccoon managed to trick Murderer by covering his eyes and jumping out of the way just in time before the dog ran head first into the alley wall and passed out.

Raccoon gasped to catch his breath after what he had endured and was about to fall over when Megan picked him up and held him in her arms as she cried and said "You... you were right... Winston... they were all... they just... they didn't come! They never came to rescue me! They just watched while I... I..."

"Don't cry those little eyes out my dear." Raccoon said "How about we forget those fools and take you to my place. I insist on it."

The nearby manhole opened up and Megan kept sobbing as she fallowed them down into the sewers and closed the manhole behind her as she walked down deeper into the sewers... unaware that she was heading straight into a trap.

* * *

Once the chaos had finally calmed down and Murderer vanished from sight, Surly and the others slowly came out and sighed in relief, Andie held their children close and the Bruisers helped everyone else calm down and recover from the shock. Surly turned to Buddy and noticed that his friend was trembling with fear, making the purple squirrel put his paw on his shoulder in concern as he said "Buddy? What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"

Buddy tried to control himself but he couldn't stop shaking before Surly took his paws and said "Easy little buddy, take a deep breath in and then out. Calm down gently then tell us what happened."

Buddy fallowed his friend's advice, calming himself down before he did some signs for his friend that made the squirrel's eyes go wide with shock before Surly exclaimed "Raccoon is alive and he has Megan?!"

The park animals gasped in shock at what had transpired and everyone went into a panic before Andie gently placed their kits down and whistled loud enough for everyone to hear. Once they were silent Andie spoke up "We all know how bleak this situation us, but we can't panic because of it, we have to stay strong and work together like we have always done no matter what difficulty we were faced. Raccoon's return is shocking but him having taken Megan is a lot worse! Since she never met him, Raccoon probably already tricked her and is probably going to do something horrible to her. And yet at the same time we cannot just simply leave and leave our children unprotected. Especially not mine."

Surly looked at his children and knew Andie was right. They were just babies, too young to face serious dangers of the world. He remembered how Buddy was harmed because of his recklessness, almost loosing him to a coma if Precious had not licked him awake. He didn't want that to happen again. Surly tuned to Buddy and said "Buddy, I'm afraid i'm going to have to make you sit this one out."

Buddy looked at his friend with shock but kept quiet as Surly added "It's not that I don't want you to come, it's just that me and Andie's kids are just tiny babies, we can't leave them all alone to defend themselves. You are the only one I trust to take care of them, I can't leave them with anyone else. Do you understand?"

Buddy looked at Surly and then at his nieces and nephew, who were all rolling around in the grass and making baby noises. Buddy wanted to help but Surly was right, the triplets need someone to look after them. Buddy gave his friend a confident look and nodded. Surly smiled back and said "Thanks pal, I owe you."

"Frankie, you stay behind and look after our puppies, i'm gonna go help my friends recover our friend." Precious told the bull dog who nodded in agreement.

"I shall stay and send my men on watch to protect the park at all coasts." Mr. Feng said "After all, you need someone with experience in fighting."

"Don't think Raccoon won't just back off when you use your Kung Fu skills," Andie said "I've known him for years, he can outsmart anyone no mater how clever or strong they are."

"Please, after taking out the human mayor and his minions, taking this Raccoon down along with his rat minions will be simple child's play." Mr. Feng said, not concerned at all about this foe his friends had taken on before.

"Whatever you say, now let's go!" Surly said.

Soon the park bid farewell to the valiant group of Surly, Andie, The Bruisers, Precious, Mole and several other animals while the rest stayed behind. Since he used to work for Raccoon, Mole knew where the mammal would take Megan and had seen a place big enough for humans in the sewers. Most likely that was where they found find Megan. Everyone was silent the whole time as Mole navigated his way through the twisting, slimy turns that lead to the large room Mole mentioned and sure enough it led straight over a large waterfall with steal grates as floors.

"Oh man, this place smells really bad." Precious said.

"Yeah, and I thought nothing could smell as worse then we dog." Surly said, holding his nose.

"Help! Help!"

The animals gasped when they heard that cry of help before a blinding flash of light illuminated the room, revealing it to be swarmed with rats of all shapes and sizes and locked inside a cage was Megan, who's eyes had become red from all the crying and on top of the cage was none other then Raccoon, who smiled evilly and said "Hello everyone, did you miss me?"

"Not at the slightest!" Surly snapped angrily "I should have known you'd still live after that mess you caused in the park."

"You had a hand in it as well, it was your fault we had to endure that nut shop raid in the first place when you destroyed the park's food supply." Raccoon countered "If you had just been good and obedient like the other mammals in Liberty Park were we never would have had that little problem now, would we?"

"But then we wouldn't have known what a liar and a monster you really are." Andie snapped back "And now you have our human baby in a cage! How could you be so cruel?!"

"Oh Andie, I always knew you were always trouble. Sometimes I wondered why I kept having you as a pawn in the first place." Raccoon said "You were too noble and trustworthy for your own good I guess. No wonder you decided to squander your life to marry and have babies with a thief."

"You better take that back or i'll bite!" Precious snarled before she barked at the raccoon.

The mammal only laughed and said "Oh please, I endured months of isolation at sea, swam against sharks and avoiding becoming road kill to giant cars and careless humans. You think i'd be afraid of a disgusting dog like you?"

Precious found herself backing away and whimpering at what the mammal said before Raccoon looked down at Megan, who was trying to break out of her cage as he said "It was easy to manipulate her mind; all I had to do was make up a fake story I knew she's take seriously and she brought it, hook line and sinker. She even believed me when I told her there was a wild alligator on the loose in the city, can you believe such foolishness?!"

"Are you saying that our kid has rocks for brains?!" Surly snarled angrily.

"No... you do." Raccoon said

"That does it, let me at him!" Johnny snarled as he and his siblings put their arms up, ready for a brawl with the ex-park leader.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Raccoon said with a grin.

"Why not?" Andie asked

"You might... fall." Raccoon said, before he pulled something he held down by his foot. It turned out he was standing on the rope that triggered a booby trap and once he pulled the string the door was released and Surly and his group found themselves plummeting into the river and Surly grabbed onto the rail, trying to pull himself back up with Andie hanging onto him. Mole and Precious were the first to go over the falls along with the Bruisers, who had tried to doggie paddle away but ended up going over themselves. Surly looked at Andie and realized her grip was slipping. She gave Surly a sad look before she lost her grip and Surly watched with great despair as she went over the sewage waterfall. Surly looked at Raccoon with fire in his eyes as the mammal walked over to him with an evilly calm look on his face as Surly decided to give Raccoon a piece of his mind.

"I'll get you for this! I'll get you even if I have to come back from the dead to do it!" Surly snarled.

"I don't think so." Raccoon said.

Then the mammal stopped on his paw and Surly was forced to let go, falling into the river and going over the falls, the last thing he heard before he went over was "Daddy, No!"

Megan watched as Raccoon turned on his men and said "Alright, now that those pests are out of the way, we can proceed with the next step of the plan. Make sure she is bound good and tight so she cannot move nor speak and take her back to our hideaway back on the surface... I'll be going home for the first time in months... and I will rule it the way I want it to be ruled, wither they like it or not."

Megan watched on in horror as the rats squeezed their way into the cage they forced her in and began bounding her as Megan sobbed and cried "Daddy... I'm so sorry!"

* * *

Surly felt like he had been hit by a diesel truck and looked around, he was still in the sewers but it was covered in human junk arranged in a way someone was living in it and realized he was on solid ground. It didn't take long to realize the rest of his friends were alive and on dry land as well as he got up and walked over to Andie to check on her.

"Andie, are you alright?" He asked with concern.

"I'm alright... but I think someone rescued us from drowning in the sewers." Andie said "Someone like... Oh my gosh!"

The group turned at Andie's exclamation and their eyes went wide; there, standing in front of them wearing a coat made out of rags and a spear on his back was none other then Grayson himself, his fur tattered and stained and he smelled like something that had died and was decomposing but he still had that cocky, dashing smile on his face as he smiled at them.

"Hello city swellers! Welcome to Grayson's Heroic Bachelor Pad of Awesomeness." The gray squirrel exclaimed.

"Grayson!?" Surly asked in shock.

He had no idea what was going on but he sure hoped Grayson had a good explanation for this!


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two**

Andie needed a moment to rub her eyes.

There was no way she was seeing this right! Right? She just couldn't process that the smelly hobo-like marksman before her was the same vain, overly pompous squirrel that the whole park used to fawn over.

Surly, on the other hand, did not have much trouble voicing his thoughts. With a shake of his head, the mammal gestured his hands at Grayson as though the other squirrel was a walking hamburger dressed all dapper.

"Wha... Grayson, what is this!? What are you even doing here? You've been gone for a very long time and THIS is where you've been all this time? Do I even want to know why?"

Grayson threw his head back with a hearty guffaw, as though this short of thing was nothing new to him. Honestly, it probably was "I don't see why not! After all, someone with a bachelor pad like THIS," the gray rodent extended his arms, gesturing to the stinky filth around them "Is someone worth the acquaintance! Oh ho! The stories I could share with you guys..."

Andie had to face palm. Yep, this was definitely still Grayson, but more importantly... "Grayson," she looked up at him, face now concerned "Do you know the fastest way to the surface?"

Grayson lost his smile for a moment, confused by the question "Well... naturally! There isn't a corner of these sewers I haven't crossed at least once!"

"Good," Andie said as she smiled "Because we need to get back to the park as soon as possible! Raccoon is back and he's planning to take over the park again!"

The gray squirrel suddenly gulped at hearing the name of his former leader, his bravado suddenly gone "O-Oh, well, uh..."

Surly stepped forward. "Look Grayson, Raccoon is freaking scary, and yeah he knows how to do a LOT of damage, but that's exactly why me, Andie and the rest of us need to stop him!" He held his hands out in a calm manner "Now we're not asking you to join us. We're just asking that you help us outta these sewers. Once we're outside, we can take things from there, okay?"

For a moment, Grayson looked ready to agree to those terms, but then for some reason he started looking down, eyes deep in thought. The sight was sort of weird to see for the animals who used to know this squirrel, so their surprise was even greater when Grayson shot his head back up with a fierce gaze."

"No."

Blinking for a moment, Surly shook his head, taken back "Wait, what?! But-"

Grayson held a hand up, gesturing the other male to stop "I'm not saying I won't help you. What I AM saying is that I want in on your operation."

Mole leaned towards Precious and whispered "We're not exactly a bunch of spies."

Not hearing the comment, Grayson continued "You see, after the incident with Raccoon, I fell into a complete rut after learning the truth. All this time," he stepped towards Surly with a sad look on his face "I thought I was a hero, someone worth looking up to. But then you and Buddy came and did things for the park that I never could. No, that I never would have thought to do because I was so focused on myself and my image I didn't see how unfair I was being and how badly I had dragged the good namesake of Park Hero through the mud until it hit me right in the face. That revelation left me so ashamed of myself that I left the park to find my true self. And then..."

His eyes glowed like the night sky over the wilderness as he hopped on top of a heap of empty Jello cups "I stumbled down here! You won't believe it, but there are so many animals down here in need of help, so many that don't have the luxury of leaders like above. They needed someone who could watch their backs in this garbage-ridden world."

Grayson paused to close his eyes and breathe deeply, seeming more at peace than anyone had ever seen him "That's when I knew," he put a hand to his chest "This was the chance I needed to be a hero. For REAL this time and this time I was going to do it right."

Everyone simply stared at him in shock.

Andie blinked. Then blinked again. And again. Seriously, was this the same squirrel she used to know? Looked like him, sounded like him, and yet there's no way the Grayson from back then could have ever said any of that without a script. It... almost made her feel proud. Almost.

Taking a calming breath, she set a soft glare on Grayson "How come you never came back to tell us what had happened to you? We were so worried about what might have happened to you."

"I wasn't." Mole quipped, only for Precious to wallop him upside the head.

Grayson shook his head "It's okay Mole. I wasn't the animal your park needed, let alone the friend you guys needed. I only cared for myself and the status quo back then. I was no better then Raccoon. That's part of why I want to help you all stop him. So I can prove to myself that I've completely moved on."

"That's good, because we need all the help we can get to stop Raccoon and save the park." Andie said "I just hope he doesn't try to do anything with out precious babies."

"If he dares lay one finger on either of my children's heads, he is going to turn into a skin coat for it!" Surly snarled.

"You guys have kids together?" Grayson asked "Wow! I bet they must be totally adorable."

"And they are in danger unless we get back up there and stop Raccoon! Grayson, lead us!" Andie said

"Alright, let's get outta here and save the park!" Grayson said before he ran off into the sewers with the team fallowing him not to far behind.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three**

Never in all his life had he thought that Grayson would end up being useful in such a moment like this. Surly was sure that the next time he saw the gray squirrel he would still be as big headed and beauty obsessed jerk as he had always been... but after that speech, he began to see that Grayson wasn't the same guy he knew back then, as if being away from home and seeing things after their first nut job caper had changed him... but could it be true? Well, now was a good time to prove it more then ever!

Once they hit the nearest manhole, the group rushed to the top, removed the lid and took a deep and much deserved breath of fresh air.

"Oh man, what a horrible experience." Surly said "I never want to be down there that long again."

"I'm going to have to take a million showers to get the smell out of my fur." Andie added with a groan.

"From now on, all my future ventures will take place in places that just do not stink." Mole said as he held his nose "Pew!"

"I hope my nose still works." Precious said "I wanna be able to smell things again."

"Would you look at this place?" Grayson asked with a smile on his face, looking at the city as if for the first time "I almost forgot how clean and nice and awesome this place is!"

"This is no time for sight seeing, we have to get to Liberty Park and show Raccoon what happens when you mess with family and friends."

"Uh... where are we?" Precious asked as she looked around "Nothin' looks familiar."

The animals looked around and realized they were somewhere they have never been before and nothing looked familiar to anyone... except for Andie.

"Wait, I know this place! While me and the Bruisers were out looking for a different park to live in, we past by this street! Which means Liberty Park can't be too far away."

"Lead on Andie," Surly said "Let's go show Raccoon who's boss."

"Wait a minute, we need a plan!" Mole cried in alarm "Raccoon won't just wave a white flag the moment we walk through the entrance."

"He's right, we need a plan." Andie said "So far all Raccoon knows we have drowned in the sewers, so if he sees us he'll know the truth and... wait... remember what he said before?"

"About what?" Precious asked

"About that fake story about the gator? That gives me an idea." Andie said with a smile that matched Surly's when he had a crazy idea in his head.

* * *

Meanwhile the park animals had been minding their own business when a large group of rats suddenly emerged and forced them all back into the mill where they were horrified to see Raccoon once again, his eyes looking over them as if they were the eyes of a hawk and they were his prey.

"My dear family." Raccoon said "At last I have returned to guide us all again."

"We are not your family!" a mouse spoke up

"And you are not our leader! You made us starve to death!" A groundhog added

"Why should we just take you back after what you did to us?!" a squirrel shouted angrily.

"Well, I have two answers for that question." Raccoon said simply "One, Surly, Andie and the others who tried to rescue your human friend have... let's just say are taking a nice long swim in the sewers, and I don't think they will be coming back any time soon."

The animals gasped in horror. Surly and the others were... gone? No! It couldn't be! And yet the more they looked at the triumphed smile on Raccoon's smug furry face, the more they began to suspect he was correct. Buddy tearfully held Surly and Andie's infants close to him in great sadness and worry. With the pair gone, he was going to have to take care of the squirrel babies all by himself... and Raccoon would return to his throne as the park leader once again.

"And where's Megan?" A pigeon spoke up in worry.

"She is alive, but she's mine now." Raccoon said "As long as I have her you will do whatever I say and no matter what it is you will obey it... or else my rat friends will have to do something very drastic to her... believe you me, you do not what to know what they have planned for her if you disobey."

"You insolate fool!" shouted a familiar voice before Mr. Feng emerged and used his tail to lift himself off the ground as he said "I am Mr. Feng and I will make you pay for what you have done to my friends all those years ago."

"You think i'm scared of a white little puffball like you?" Raccoon asked "Please, you wouldn't be able to handle me."

"Oh, now you are going to get it! HI-YA!" Mr. Feng shouted angrily as he jumped up to make his move.

He kept yelling as Raccoon stood there, not moving an inch as he timed it just right before he stomped on the ground, lifting a wooden board into the air and Mr. Feng ending up crashing right into the board with a splat. Raccoon then grabbed the white mouse's tail and tied it to his finger before using the poor mouse as a yoyo, making Mr. Feng go up and down, hitting his head every time he went down and before Mr. Feng knew it Raccoon swung him around and flung him straight into a wall, crashing into it before he plummeted and landed right in the middle of Megan's belongings.

The animals gasped in shock as the other mice pulled out Mr. Feng, who was aching in sheer pain as he looked at Raccoon with disbelief "B-But... how?"

"I have been living in the streets for far longer then you think." Raccoon said "And if there's one thing it teaches you is that whatever you can get your paws on is considered a weapon, that and always planning one step ahead of those you try to get the upper hand on you. Now... what do you say to me now?"

Mr. Feng had been on the streets as well, but clearly Raccoon had been on it a lot longer then he thought if the villain knew how to outdo a kung fu master move without the need for training. Feeling defeated for the first time in his life, Mr. Feng had no choice but to bow his bruised head and say "We... will do whatever you say... master."

Raccoon smiled at the poor mouse as he said "That's more like it."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four**

"And there... we... go!"

Andie and the other animals all stood back to examine their work.

Surly whistled in awe as he put an arm around his spouse's shoulders, never feeling more proud of her than he ever did in his life. "Gotta day, hun, this is probably your best work yet."

Andie smiled at the complement, but kept her eyes stern "Don't thank me yet. Building this thing was the easy part. The real challenge is gonna be the execution."

Mole fiddled with his fingers, nervous "Are you sure Raccoon's gonna fall for this, Andie? He's pretty darn smart."

The red squirrel flicked a finger to Mole knowingly "Exactly, BUT he's also a pathological egoist, not to mention a habitual liar. The sight of one of those lies coming to life is going to take him completely by surprise. After all, even Raccoon's not crazy enough to take on an actual gator. And with him and the rats scrambling around, we'll move on to phase 2." she turned to Grayson and said "You know what to do, right?"

Standing at attention, the gray rodent puffed his chest out proudly "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

"Good," she turned her attention back to everyone "Once we're near the mill, Surly and Precious will dispatch and get the others out so we can overpower the rats and Raccoon. And if Grayson's successful, they won't have much leverage against us

* * *

Megan could only watch from her cage, distressed and helpless, as she watched the rats bully around the park animals, forcing them to do their bidding.

The young girl scowled at the sight of one rat shoving a smaller gopher to the ground, insulting the fallen mammal.

"Now, now, my dear, don't look so distraught."

Megan felt herself bristle as she shot baleful eyes towards Raccoon, who now stood before her cage with a disgustingly sly grin, two sneering rats flanking him from both sides.

"After all," Raccoon waved his stick into the air "It's rather amusing that you, the one who wished for a family in the first place, are the only reason they're happy but also the reason they'll never know freedom." the cruel mammal chuckled darkly "The irony is rather hilarious once you think about it."

She narrowed her eyes into a piercing stare "Sorry, I forgot my sense of humor back in the sewers."

Raccoon pretended to wince in sympathy, paw to his heart "Oh, that's most unfortunate! But not to worry. There'll be plenty of time to fix that. After all," he leaned in close "Is that not the job of a parent?"

"You killed my parents! How could you be so despicable?!" Megan snapped angrily

"If you had never came, they would still be alive, wouldn't they?" Raccoon asked "You should have stayed in your homeless shelter when you had the chance."

Megan was hurt by those words... was it true? Would her park family have been better off without her? Tears began falling from her face as she covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed while the raccoon and his vermin henchmen walked off.

Meanwhile Surly and his group had managed to reach the park with their gator costume in tow and just as they were positioning it, they heard a familiar cry; a baby cry.

"My baby!" Andie gasped, recognizing that crying sound in an instant."

"Go on, we'll be right here waiting for you." Grayson said "Go and protect your children!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Surly said before he ran off with Andie.

Andie and Surly came to a halt behind some bushes where they saw a pair of rats pestering Buddy, who was doing his best to protect baby Maddy, Ben and Isabelle from the vile pair by acting as a bodyguard protecting the children from the rats.

"Move it Buddy, let us have those little bite size morsels." one rat said.

"Yeah, we're starving here and those babes sure look cute enough to eat." the other said

Buddy lifted his arms, threatening to beat them up if they didn't leave the infants alone. There was no way he would ever let these bullies harm a hair on those adorable little heads, Buddy would never let it happen.

"Mama?" Baby Ben asked, noticing Andie from the bushes.

"Aww, so cute, he's calling for his mommy." said the first rat "What are you gonna tell him Buddy? That his mommy won't be coming back home anytime soon? Or his daddy? Maybe they'd still be alive if you'd went with them."

"Or at least died with them." said the second, causing them to laugh.

Buddy felt hurt, very hurt. This allowed the first right to make his move and shove Buddy away, causing him to fall to the ground with a hard thud. The rat grabbed Baby Ben and held him high as he said "Don't worry little nipper, you'll be with your mommy again... in the after life."

Buddy shut his eyes tight and wrapped his arms around his nieces, he couldn't stand watching his only nephew get eaten alive. He felt like he had failed his best friend and his family as the bad rat opened his mouth and...

BAM! BAM!

Suddenly, from out of no where, two rocks were flung and each one struck the rats heads, causing them to pass out. Buddy quickly scooped up Baby Ben and held him close, relived the child was safe. Then he looked up and saw a sight that made his heart soar in happiness; Andie and Surly emerged from the bushes and stood before him with big smiles on their faces.

"Hey pal, sorry to have taken so long but-OOF!" Surly was interrupted when Buddy gently placed the babies down and wrapped his arms around his best friend and Andie, hugging them both tightly and kissing them with glee.

"Okay, I get it! You missed us." Surly said "You can stop kissing and hugging us now! I need to breathe!"

Buddy released his friends and gently stroked baby Ben's head, who reached out for Andie. Andie responded by pulling her son close in a loving hug as she said "Don't worry my darling, Mommy is right here. Mommy will never leave you like that ever again."

"Mama." Ben cooed happily.

"Nice work protecting our kids Buddy, now are you ready to help is kick Raccoon outta this park once and for all?" Surly asked

Buddy nodded with a smile, causing Surly to smile and affectionately rub his paw against his head "Just like old times."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty Five**

Unaware of what was going on, Raccoon stood before the park where he overlooked the sea of miserable park animals and the sewer rats who were enjoying themselves as they kicked, shoved and tormented the park animals as much as they wanted. Frankie had tried to stop them but when Raccoon threatened to kill his pups and Megan if he didn't stand down, the French bulldog had no choice but to stand down. Mr. Feng was so ashamed that he had been beaten that he shut himself up in the mill and refused to come out, leaving the rest of his men at mercy to the tyrant's every command.

The raccoon felt liberated at long last, now that he was back in command, he was going to make sure he never lost it again. He felt proud, he felt powerful, he felt important, he felt...

"Aaaaggghhhh!"

He was suddenly ran over by a pair of rats who looked scared out of their wits and Raccoon picked himself up and snapped at them "What in the world is wrong with you idiots!?"

"G-G-G-G-GATOR!" The rats screamed "THERE'S A GATOR IN THE PARK!"

"What?! That's impossible!" Raccoon exclaimed.

"We saw it! it was big and green and made a lot of noise and it wants to eat us all!" One of the rats explained in a shaky voice

"You never said anything about alligator attacks in the park when you said we could move in!" The other said.

"You dumb, worthless idiots, I told you once I told you a thousand times, there is no-" he was about to finish when something big and green emerged from the bushes causing Raccoon to let out a horrified scream "AAAAGGGHHH!"

It was a gator! It was snarling and snapping it's jaws and creating chaos as the rats and park animals screamed in fear and fled, scrambling around in different directions as the gator kept crawling and snarling.

Raccoon was horrified, how did an actual gator get into the park?! He didn't have much time before he was ran over again by several park animals and his own rat minions before he finally got back on his feet and ran for his life.

But there was something no one knew; the 'gator' was really Surly, Andie, Buddy, Precious and the Bruisers (each one holding Surly and Andie's babies in one arm and supporting the costume with another) as they marched around before Grayson decided to make his move. With one whistle and a whoop of joy he leapt from the tree and shouted "OLE!" before he landed right on top of Raccoon, pinning him down as the gray squirrel looked down at the terrified old fool and said "It is I, Grayson! I have returned at long last with my gator pal from the sewers."

"G-Grayson? We were starting to think you were dead!" Raccoon exclaimed

"I am not, but you will be if I ever catch you in this park ever again! Now begone fowl villain and take your disgusting rat pals too or i'll have them served up as stew for our new guard... uh, gator!" He got off of Raccoon and as the villain got up Grayson gave him a good kick in the rear, making the raccoon yelp and run away along with all his rat minions back into the sewers.

When they were gone, the park animals gathered around as they stood before Grayson in amazement.

"Grayson? Is that you?" A chipmunk asked

"Yes it's... uh... me." Grayson said, his bravado from before when he faced Raccoon melting away to reveal a nervous squirrel that nobody had ever thought they'd see in Grayson before.

"You tamed a gator and came back to rescue the park!" a squirrel cried in amazement "You're amazing!"

"Well, you know what's even more amazing?" Grayson asked before he turned to the 'gator' and said "Okay guys, you can ditch the costume now."

Surly and his friends emerged from the costume and waved to everyone, earning a loud cheer from everyone as Frankie rushed and nuzzled Precious as he cried "Precious! You're alive!"

"Yeah, it takes more then a rapid water ride in the sewers to beat this pug." Precious said before her puppies came and tackled her, making her laugh happily.

Andie retrieved each of her babies from the Bruisers as she looked at the groundhogs and said "Thank you so much for keeping our babies safe. I didn't want to risk leaving them out in the open at such short notice and..."

"Not a prob Andie, they were little angels." Jamie said with a grin.

"I think your daughter drooled on me though." Jimmy said as he wiped the wet spot on his chest in disgust.

"So when do you think we can be promoted to full time babysitters?" Johnny asked

"Uh... how about never?" Surly said with a grin "Cause I'd never hire you as babysitters."

"Rats." Jimmy said

"Oh look at those adorable little cheeky wittle faces!" Grayson cooed once he took a gander at Andie and Surly's infant children "They are just so cute I could just eat you right up! Andie, your babies are adorable!"

"Yeah, our babies..." Andie said before she gasped and said "Babies! Our baby! Megan! She's still in the cage!"

"Holy cow your right, how could we forget?!" Surly exclaimed in alarm "Let's find her and get her out!"

"I see it, over there!" Grayson exclaimed as he pointed to the cage not too far away.

The animals raced as fast as they could towards the cage... but they were shocked to find the cage doors open and Megan was nowhere to be found.

"How did... when did... what happened?!" Surly exclaimed "Where's our kid?!"

Precious saw a rat tail coming out of a bush and grabbed it with her teeth, dangling a rat who struggled to break free before Surly grabbed his snout and snapped "Alright you oversized fleabag! I demand you tell us where Raccoon took Megan!"

"It... it wasn't Raccoon, it was a large dog!" The rat exclaimed "While everyone was busy, that mutt came out of no where and threatened to eat us all if he didn't get the kid, so naturally we opened the door and the dog convinced the girl to come with him back to where she belongs, since she doesn't have a park family anymore."

"Oh no." Andie said "This is not good. She doesn't know we're alive! We have to find and rescue her!"

* * *

Meanwhile Megan was still shedding tears as she fallowed Murderer to the entrance of the orphanage, where she knew she was going to be in a whirlwind of trouble for running away for so long.

"Murderer... you know I am not happy with this." Megan said "I mean, of all the animals to come get me out of that cage it had to be you."

"Consider yourself lucky that I was there when I had to be. Now that your an orphan, yet again." he laughed at that, hurting Megan's feelings even more "You will take your punishment like the spoiled brat that you are. And this time, I hope you stay here and never leave us again."

Megan sniffled "I... I won't... never again... never ever again..." tears fell from her eyes before she approached the door and opened it, allowing both her and the dog entrance before she looked forlornly at the outside world.

"I... I wish I could've done something... Mommy... Daddy... i'm so sorry." Megan said with tears falling from her eyes.

"Shut the door you brat, and fetch me those treats already." Murderer ordered.

Megan sniffled as she closed the door behind her, once again back in her prison of an orphanage and being bossed around by Murderer was just the beginning of her horrible time back in the orphanage.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty Six**

After letting the cowardly rat go and threatening to feed him to some ally cats if he ever told Raccoon that Surly, Andie and their friends survived, they watched the cowardly rat flee for his life.

Once they were sure he was gone, Surly turned to the gang and said "Okay, since Murderer's the one who took Megan, he could have only taken her back to the orphanage since he kept saying he'd do so."

"Easy," Jamie boasted "We just pull off another rescue like last time and she's outta there in no time!"

Andie shook her head "Murderer's still going to expect someone to come rescue Megan. If Megan thinks we're dead, then chances are that Murderer does too, because she must've told him by now. We still have the element of surprise."

Grayson raised his hand like a student in class "Quick question: Who's Murderer?"

"A really, really, REALLY big jerk." Jamie answered with a grimace.

He's a brute of a dog," Surly explained "And a thug to boot. He guards this terrible orphanage Megan used to live in and makes it his job of making sure kids never escape from there."

To his credit, Grayson rightly winced at the information. Surly nodded emphatically.

"That works in our favor, though," Andie added "Because he'll be focused on making sure Megan stays in, not on keeping others out. We just need to get in and get out with Megan without that dog being all the wiser."

Mole shrugged his shoulders. "But what if Murderer catches onto us? He busted up the dog whistle the last time he came here, remember?"

"Then we have to face the mutt head on." Surly said with fiery determination "And I don't know about you, but taking Megan is the last straw for me. The next time I see that mutt, I'll turn him into the mill's own dog skinned rug! Now who's with me?"

"I AM!" The group shouted in unison.

"Perfect, now I have a plan." Surly said "But we have to wait until tonight."

* * *

Megan sighed sadly as she took a pair of scissors and started cutting some pieces of paper, working on some art to keep her occupied with the other orphans. Naturally the adults were not happy that Megan had ran off and she didn't need to ask that Murderer was being praised the way he always does and she felt a lump form in her throat as she kept focusing on her artwork without saying a word or getting up from the floor.

When she was done she stared at it sadly; it was a picture of Surly, Buddy, Andie and all of the other park animals gathered together for a fun day at the park. How she missed living with them so, and she missed her family so very much. How she wished that she could turn back time and prevent that horrible moment in the sewers from ever happening.

She yawned before she heard the nanny shout "Alright you tiny tots, it's time for bed! Everyone get to their rooms and into their pajamas, and remember, none of you are allowed to leave your rooms unless it's to use the bathroom or for a glass of water. Other then that you can wait for it until tomorrow morning."

Sadly Megan obeyed and went to her room, lagging behind the rest of the orphans as she went to her lonely room and closed the door behind her. Tears were forming in her eyes as she tossed her clothes away and put on a green nightgown and climbed into bed, hugging her pillow as she began to sob sadly.

"I... I wish they'd come back... I wish they'd come back." Megan whispered sadly "I wish they'd come to take me back home."

She soon found herself crying in her pillow, sobbing for all the aching pain in her heart for all it was worth.

Meanwhile outside the building, Surly and his friends had arrived at the front doors of the orphanage with brave looks on their faces and Surly stepped forward saying "Alright guys, we are going in and we are not coming out without our kid."

"Onward to victory!" Grayson shouted, letting out a battle cry which was cut short when Andie grabbed his snout and held him to her face as she hissed "Not yet, you want to wake up the entire building!?"

"Oh, Sorry..." Grayson said before he let out another battle cry, only this time it was very quiet and he was casually walking towards the orphanage as if he was just a mere visitor.

Unknown to them Raccoon was watching from the gates and he smiled wickedly at them as he said "Well, well, Surly, I see you've outdone yourself since the last time. Faking your own death, the fake gator, but now I have the upper hand."

"How so boss?" The rat asked

"Easy, I'm going to end this... permanently." Raccoon said with a wicked grin.

While the park animals were making their way into the orphanage through the front door, Raccoon and his rat minions snuck in through the basement door and soon found their target; the boiler. Raccoon began turning the knob that would turn the boiler on and then removed it so nobody could turn it off.

"This will finish them off once and for all." Raccoon said wickedly "But we must make sure of it."

"Uh boss, don't you think your going a tad too far in this?" The rat asked "I mean doesn't using a boiler like a bomb count as a step too far?"

Raccoon didn't answer, he just made his way to the top of the stairs and the rats fallowed without question... but still there was something they may have overlooked; how fast the boiler could explode while they were busy focusing on the park animals and revenge.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

After they had successfully snuck inside the building, Surly and his group began working their way around the building while making sure that the guard dog was no where around. Once they made sure the coast was clear Precious and Frankie began to use their super sense of smell to find Megan.

They went up the stairs and over some of the dissuaded toys and other things the children had left behind before they finally made it to a closed door where Frankie took a big sniff and said "Megan's in there, I know it."

"Great, now what?" Grayson asked.

"We get the door open, what else." Surly said "Okay everyone, let's get to work."

Meanwhile Megan was still fast asleep when she heard a commotion outside her bedroom door. She quickly got up and opened the door, revealing Surly and his rescue team behind it. She almost screamed with joy but the animals shushed her so she couldn't wake up everyone else.

Megan quickly got everyone inside and closed the door before she scooped the animals into her arms and said "My family! Daddy! Mommy! I thought I as an orphan all over again!"

"We're sorry to have taken so long darling," Andie said "But we had to formulate a plan in order to take back the park from Raccoon. We didn't know Murderer would use this to his advantage by taking you back here while we were busy."

"Is this the girl you guys all risked life and limb for?" Grayson asked

"Oh, uh Megan, meet Grayson, and Grayson, meet Megan." Surly said, making sure the introduction was made between the child and the park hero first.

Grayson looked at Megan and smiled before he bowed to her and said "A pleasure to finally met you my dear."

"Same here, has he always been so charming?" Megan asked

"Well 'charming' wouldn't be the word I use for this guy." Surly said "Now let's get out of here before anyone wakes up."

Megan nodded before she got up and opened the door... and everyone yelped when they saw Murderer at the doorway! He was snarling and he hissed in a very dangerous tone of voice "When I get through with you, you are going to wish you actually were killed."

"Uh, no." Surly said before he whistled and Mr. Feng and his army emerged from the air conditioner ducts and charged towards the dog, pinning him down with their combined mussel and hogtying him.

"Consider yourself lucky we don't have the heart to send you to the pound." Mr. Feng said "Now we can get out of here before anyone else notices that we're here."

"No one is going anywhere."

The animals and Megan gasped at the familiar voice before they turned to see Raccoon standing on the window seal with Andie in his grasp. His paw was coving Andie's mouth so she couldn't make a sound and he held her close with his other arm so she couldn't escape his grasp so easily.

Surly felt an inferno of rage overcoming him as he snarled "Raccoon! Let my girl go!"

"Or what, you can't do anything to me, not while I have her as my prisoner." Raccoon said, grinning wickedly as Andie struggled to get out of his grasp "If anyone of you tries to make a sudden move, i'll kill her. You wouldn't want that, do you?"

Suddenly the window behind him closed and he turned to see his rat minions retreating as he shouted "Hey! This wasn't part of the plan! Get back here you cowards!"

Buddy ran over to Raccoon and bit his arm, making the raccoon snout out in pain and loosening his grip on Andie. Buddy managed to get Andie to safety as she ran towards Surly and threw her arms around him, catching her breath as he hugged her back and asked "Andie, are you alright?"

"I... Yes, I'm okay." Andie said with a sigh.

Surly sighed with sheer relief and looked up at Buddy... only to witness Raccoon stuffing the poor rat into a sack!

"Buddy!" Surly exclaimed in horror.

Raccoon swung the struggling sack over his back and snarled "Well, I didn't want to have to do this but we have no choice. You see the boiler is about to explode at any given moment and unless we don't find a way out we're all going to die in a fiery explosion... well, except for me since I already have a backup escape plan. You have a choice Surly, go after me and rescue your best friend or rescue your human friend and save the lives of all the other orphans. Bye now."

Raccoon then ran off, but the dogs were in hot persuit as Andie looked at Mr. Feng and said "Go ahead of us, and block ever single exit in this building. We are not going to let Raccoon get away with this!"

"Already on it!" Mr. Feng said before he turned to his men and they scurried off to stop Raccoon.

Surly looked like he was about to lose it with everything that was going on but Andie grabbed his shoulders and said "Don't worry Surly, we won't let Raccoon get away with this, we'll save Buddy, the orphans and stop Raccoon once and for all."

Surly smiled and said "Okay, let's hurry! We don't have much time left to lose!"

"Onward my friends!" Grayson shouted as if he was leading his army into war "We're off to the rescue! Onward and away!"

As the animals and Megan ran off on a daring rescue mission, The Bruisers looked at the still tied up Murderer and Johnny said "Not so tough and deadly now are ya?"

The groundhog then bopped the dog's nose and ran off to fallow his siblings, leaving the angry but tied up dog far behind.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

"Okay Megan," Surly whispered to his daughter "Do you know where the boiler room is?"

Megan nodded "It's suppose to be on the basement floor, but we'll have to sneak past the nanny's room to get there. Trust me when I say that lady is one light sleeper."

Surly smirked "Luckily for you, your dear old dad's had practice with those kinds of humans. Just leave it to me. Andie, I'm gonna need your help babe. You too, Grayson. Everyone else, help Mr. Feng and his buddies keep Raccoon in anyway you can, and keep an eye our for the other kids in case they wake up."

The whole gang nodded in assent before everyone went to their duties, the squirrels making a quick stop at Megan's old tattered bed to get some mattress filling. Once they deemed their amount plentiful enough, the trio dashed to the nanny's room with Megan quietly following. Once they got there, Andie managed to gently ease the door open and peek inside. A lanky form snored beneath the purple blankets, the queen-sized bed new and soft, unlike the horrid ones the kids here had to sleep on.

After gesturing Megan to stay put, Andie stealthily slunk across the bedroom, Surly deftly following while Grayson kept watch with Megan. Once they reached the bed, Andie handed one piece of filling to Surly. Simultaneously, the two squirrels scampered up the bed and onto the pillow until they reached the nanny's ears. Carefully, Andie and Surly stuffed the filling into the woman's ears.

All of a sudden, the nanny started to wiggle as though about to wake. Everyone else stiffened in alarm.

That is until the woman let out a soft yawn and resumed sleeping.

Sighing in relief, Surly and Andie finished their job and quickly returned to Grayson and Megan.

"Alright," Surly pumped a fist before himself "Now for that boiler!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Buddy had NOT been giving Raccoon an easy time. All throughout his captivity, the rat kicked and thrashed as much as he could to slow the scoundrel down.

Needless to say, Raccoon was not amused. Anymore of this and he was going to go crazy.

"Will you knock it off?!" he snapped at his captive "It's bad enough my own men ditched me but-ooof!"

He was interrupted when he tripped on something and fell onto the ground, dropping the sack as the raccoon looked up to see what it was; The mice, and they weren't alone as Precious and Frankie snarled at him and soon the raccoon found himself trapped on top of an old grandfather clock with the dogs down below, circling him like sharks. However Precious went to check on Buddy, whom had climbed out of the sack and dusted himself off with the help of Mr. Feng.

"Buddy! Buddy! Buddy, you alright?" Precious asked in concern.

Buddy smiled at his dog friend and nodded to say he was alright. Precious felt so relived that she gave Buddy several slobbery kisses as the mice looked on with smiles on their faces, some were just plain disgusted. Frankie kept his eyes on Raccoon who was trying to find another way out while Precious gave her rat friend one last slobbery lick and nuzzled him happily, although a tad too hard since she knocked him over but he wasn't hurt.

"Now we have to find a way to stop the boiler." Mr. Feng said

"Stopping that thing won't do you any good," Raccoon called down "By now that boiler has gotten so hot it's practically at it's breaking point, which means any moment this whole building will burst into flames, and so will all of you!"

"And you too genius!" Frankie snapped "Just wait, even if we cannot save the building, we will save the orphans at all coasts."

"Yeah, right." Raccoon said "I'm shaking."

* * *

Meanwhile Surly and his group had arrived in the boiler room and saw a scene of mass chaos, true to Raccoon's word, the boiler looked like it was ready to blow up at any given moment, whistling and clanking nonstop.

"I don't think we'll be able to shut this thing down in time!" Andie said in concern "If anything, we'll be seriously hurt if we go in front of that thing now!"

"Oh great, it's the nut shop explosion all over again!" Surly cried in frustration.

"What are we going to do now?" Grayson asked, beginning to panic.

"It looks like we have no choice, we have to wake up everyone, get them all to leave before the entire building goes up in flames." Andie said "If only we have a way to alert everyone."

Megan gasped "I know, the building has a fire alarm system, I'll use that!"

Megan ran across the nanny's room, ignoring the fact that the vibrations she caused while running across the room had awoken the lady, and entered the hallway before she found the fire alarm and gave it one great big pull!

The super loud alarm and blaring red lights awoke everybody in the orphanage and everyone panicked as they scrambled out of their beds and ran straight out the door, focused more on getting out of the building in one piece then to ask what was going on.

Buddy and the rest of the group reunited with Surly's group where Surly wrapped his best friend in a tight hug and cried "Buddy! I'm glad your alright..." then he stepped back and realized his pal was coated in familiar slime "Eww! Precious slobbered you!"

"Let's get out of here before I lose my hearing to that loud alarm!" Grayson cried as he covered his ears in pain.

Everyone managed to escape the building in time, save for Murderer whom everyone had forgot about and Raccoon who tried to escape through the window but his tail got caught and stuck under it.

Once everyone was out, they waited for smoke and flames for a while... after a moment nothing happened and they were wondering if this whole thing was nothing but a false alarm... until suddenly...

KA-BOOM!

The adults and other children from the orphanage watched on in shock as the orphanage suddenly exploded into a raging inferno which quickly consumed everything and they all looked on in shock as the flames continued to eat away at the building before the entire thing came tumbling down into one big heap of burning rubble as the firemen came along with some reporters and news crew.

Megan could already tell by this that the jig was officially up and it was high time to come clean with everything... if anyone would believe it that is.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

Megan took a deep breath to brace herself for the madness ready to ensure.

The first couple of minutes consisted of all sorts of people-News crews, police officers, civilians-asking her over and over again how the explosion happened. Fortunately, Megan was clever enough to give enough details without giving away the direct involvement of animals in the fiasco.

"I heard something squeaking in the basement while I was getting a cup of water. The nanny is a light sleeper and I didn't want her to wake up and be tired all the next day, so I went down to take care of the noise myself."

Then she gasped in dread when she spotted the nanny stalking towards her and the reporters with definite rage in her beady eyes. The old woman jabbed a fat finger at the little girl.

"You," she barked "I heard noise in the basement right before the alarm went off! The only thing capable of causing such an explosion was the boiler! And the first one I saw the moment I came out of the building was you! YOU were the one who caused it, weren't you?!"

Megan started to take a step back at the interrogation, severely rattled. There was no way she could say a raccoon was the culprit. Even if it was the truth, who would ever believe her? Unless...

An idea suddenly occurred to Megan. An extremely clever idea.

She knew exactly how to dodge this bullet. With that in mind, she succeeded in regaining her composure and posed her hands behind her back in an innocent fashion "Like I told all the nice people here, I heard some squeaking down in the basement and thought it might've been mice. I was worried they might wake everyone up and I didn't want to wake you, so I decided to shoo them away myself."

A newswoman suddenly appeared next to the nanny, shoving a microphone into Megan's face "Excuse me, young lady, but do you expect us to believe that someone your age had access to such a dangerous area?"

Megan nodded "It's not that hard to believe, actually. Our nanny never locks the door to the basement at night, or any door for that matter because she always expects us to stay in our rooms unless it's to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. Which I had to."

The newswoman and her associates all settled a glare on the nanny, who stepped back timidly now that the attention was all on her.

"Um, w-well," the nanny stuttered "I-I keep a room near the door to the basement and I'm a light sleeper, so that something like this never happens. Also my boss has been meaning to fix those door locks but never got around to it, since everyday is always so busy and we never thought something like this could happen to us."

"Yet, it DID." A police officer retorted in a menacing tone.

The nanny only had enough time to gulp before the entire news crew came down on her like a flock of vultures. Megan hastily backpedaled to avoid the sudden throng of people, but smirked once she got out of range.

Surly was going to be so proud of her.

Wait a second, Surly! Megan looked around frantically. Where did he go? Where did the others go?

"Megan!"

The young girl turned at the familiar call and discovered Sofia and her father running her way, faces full of concern. Once they reached her, Sofia wrapped her in a tight hug, one Megan gladly returned. Once the kids finished their embrace, Mr. Jacobs got down to one knee and gave Megan a once-over to make sure she wasn't injured "Are you alright? We saw the news and came down as fast as we could."

When Megan nodded, Mr. Jacobs sighed in relief hen glanced up at the smoldering remnants of the orphanage "Um, how on earth did this..."

"Megan waved a dismissive hand, "It's kind of a long story. Um, would it be alright if we arranged for me to stay at your guys' house for a while?"

Mr. Jacobs shared a look with his daughter before looking back at Megan with a hearty smile "Well, I can imagine worse places you could be."

* * *

After a whole eventful week came and gone, so much change had happened to Megan. When the orphanage burnt down, the adults who ran it had no choice but to give up every single child to the first available families who wanted them and for the bullies, who always got what they wanted, had the tables turned when they received severe punishments for the first time in their lives and they weren't happy about it. And neither were Kylie and her mother, the nanny, who were put in serious trouble trying to explain what happened to the original owner of the orphanage that the building would take years to rebuild from scratch, and boy were they in DEEP trouble.

The other children were thrilled to have parents at long last and are even happier to see that one of their own, Megan, had become the official adoptive daughter of Mayor Jacobs, the new mayor of Oakton who kept his promise on good deeds and great things and Sofia was happy to welcome Megan as her new sister, which Megan returned with so much happiness... but something wasn't quite right.

Where were Surly? And his friends? Were they alright? Megan was worried that something bad had happened to them when one day while she was in her new bedroom she got her answer.

She heard a noise by the window and looked up to see Surly, Andie and Buddy waving to her from the window seal. Megan smiled and pulled the trio close for a hug as she cooed "Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Buddy! You're alright!"

"Yeah... of course now you have a real daddy now." Surly said "Sorry we had to leave but there was a large crowd and we had to leave before anyone saw us, sorry we had to leave you in the dark about that."

"It's okay." Megan said "And no matter what I have for parents, you guys will always be my family."

"That's sweet, and next time we'll bring our babies so they can see how your doing in your new home." Andie said "It's probably for the best that you have a proper human home anyway, to be honest I was afraid of what we would've done if you had gotten sick or severely hurt."

"Well, no matter what family is family and friends are friends... and I'm proud to know you guys as both friends and family." Megan said

Buddy was so happy he climbed up Megan's arm and gave her a great big smooch on her cheek. Megan giggled as she snuggled her rat friend close and said "No matter what Buddy, you will always be my Uncle. I'll never forget any of you."

"And we will never forget you baby." Andie said "Now we better get going before our other babies get into trouble."

"See you later kiddo." Surly said before he blew her a kiss and scampered off back to the park.

Megan watched the trio scurry all the way back to the park and out of sight before she went back to her school homework.

She was going to miss her time in Liberty Park but she knew that deep down the park will always be her home and the animals who took care of her and had many adventures with and rescued her from the clutches of the wicked Raccoon will always be there and will always be her family. Just as she will always be known by all as the Human of Liberty Park.

The End!


End file.
